Fret Dress –
A fret dress is needed when a we cannot setup the instrument to play correctly due to loose frets, fret wear, or slight warping of the neck.A fret dress is the process of removing strings and straightening the neck. Once the neck is straight the frets are leveled with a perfectly machined leveling bar while removing only a minimal amount of material until all the frets are perfectly level. After the frets are leveled they are crowned to a very fine center line (the intonation line for each fret). Then your frets are polished up to a mirror finish. Once we have done this your guitar can then be setup with a straight neck and your guitar will play with low action and absolutely no fret buzz. I recommend this for any new guitar since they don’t do it in the factory, and for guitars that are regularly played.
ReFret –
A refret is needed once you have played through your frets or the fret board cannot be straitened enough to perform a fret dress. Refretting involves removing the old frets, leveling your fretboard, installing new frets, dressing them, and setting up your guitar. This can also be used to strengthen a weak neck. When frets are properly installed they give the neck rigidity. Loose frets or glued in frets end up transferring the tension from your string directly to your truss rod. That is the reason the you see so many necks that are stuck in relief because the neck is not rigid enough to support the string tension. Once the refret is complete you will notice more sustain, better tone, better intonation and fewer adjustments needed to keep your instrument playing comfortably.
CF. Restorations 