guitarfixer, the thing which hardly anyone ever seems to understand is that fretting at the first fret involves more deformation of the string than fretting at the second, which in turn involves more deformation than fretting at the third, and so on ....

Imagine a 8 foot length of 2"x4" suspended at both ends. How much force would be required to deflect it at the centre by 2 inches ? Now think, how much force would be required to deflect it by 2 inches at a point say, 12 inches in from the end?

Apply the same thinking to guitar strings, and it all becomes obvious.

Murray