Several individual guitarmakers are offering alternative finishes to the usual nitrocellulose lacquer, but Sergei has been French polishing his classical guitars since he began building decades ago, and all those years of experience show. The finish on this guitar has a soft glow unlike lacquer, but it lacks the swirls and streaks you usually see in French polish. We don't know what else Sergei has changed, but this OM also has a bigger, deeper voice than previous versions, the kind of sound you'd expect once a guitar was "broken in" from several months of being played. All the usual Sergei touches are here, the spalted maple soundhole rosette, curly koa binding with delicate wood purfling lines, and rosewood facing on the back of the headstock (above the volute) as well as the front. An elegant but understated guitar when viewed from any angle, and further proof that there's no substitute for experience!