Fret Dressing is an art. A new bass 'should' have a reasonable fret job from the factory. I bought a new P-bass last fall and there were a couple of burrs that hurt my little hands when shifting positions and I fixed those with an Emory board, but I would not mess with the tops of the frets personally. It might behoove you to pick up a book on guitar repair. Last time I looked, it seemed pretty involved.
A fret job gets all the fret tops in line with the same plane. Actually it's a warped plane, and that’s why its tricky. It takes special files as well. It's best to get a guy who does this every day to take a look at it. But a new bass should be close. A sign of a problem might be if one fret buzzes more than another one.
I had some fret buzz with my new bass to, but decided to let the strings and time shave the metal some before I pay somebody (by shaving them down) to hasten the need refret. That’s when you replace them because they are too close to the wood.
This was doubly tough for me as I have played fretless for years and never really learned how to use my hands to limit the buzz thing. I did however lessen the problem by putting on Dean Markley Ground Wound mediums. This gives enough crunch when you need it without the constant grinding. I raised the action some too.
A lot can be done with the hands. I spend a lot more time on the fretted bass working on muting just right or having my LH fingers closer to the fret. It's all about touch.
There is some leeway here in what people do with frets. I have a 63 Jaguar with frets that are worn down almost to the wood and it plays like butter. I understand Lee Skalar (sp) had mandolin frets put in his bass.
The short answer its to take it to the shop you bought it from and ask them to take a look. If you still have the stock fender strings you may want to try something new. I bet flatwounds would not do this at all.
