It’s a new guitar that has been made to look old
https://www.pre-warguitars.com/distress-levels
Like a Gibson Murphy Aged Les Paul people pay a ton for
https://www.gibson.com/en-US/Collection/the-gibson-murphy-lab
Some do it well, some don’t. But for me, when paying $6k on a guitar, I prefer it to not have buckle rash out of the box. The again, it certainly takes the fear out of playing it and can look really great especially the way Pre-War does it
I do see that Pre-War’s level 1 is essential mint, no distress. That’s probably what I would get and do the scratching and dinging myself which is inevitable
Here’s an interview with Tom Murphy