Well it's time I got into a little trouble around here!Since I've always preferred the company of women to men, I've heard some rather telling comments over the years about "which guys are good lovers, and which ones aren't". Often it seems that it's "the touch". Well, it's the same with playing the guitar. As far as finger placement on the frets...a couple of mm.s either way can make the difference between a nice melodic sustain, and being simply "out of tune". One of the ways to help this is to use correct fingering for chords...fingering that allows you to get the digits near the fret rather than in the middle. The most important trick though is to use JUST ENOUGH pressure to push the string against the fret. There's certainly no reason to have it touch the wooden fingerboard itself. It's not an easy skill to learn (which is why the world isn't filled with great guitarists) but it's worth it in the long run. From what I've seen, men just press too damn hard. Since I played 12 string for many years and developed very muscular hands (no muscles on the rest of me!) I have to be conscious of easing up the "touch" substantially when I'm on the 6 string, or I'll constantly put the "B" string sharp.
Tony MAY have a point about "fret hight". Simply from a "comfort" point of view, I really like low frets, but many swear by Gibson's "high frets". My experience has been that sometimes a specific guitar JUST DOESN'T WORK PROPERLY for a specific player....for no easily explainable reason. Better to get a new one than keep trying to fix something that may be unfixable.
So remember, when you're on that G string, ya gotta find the right spot..."The G spot, of course".
Good thread Margo
Rick