Seagull guitars feature a genuine lacquer finish, a key characteristic of the best hand-crafted acoustic guitars. A lacquer finish protects the wood without reducing the top's vibration. Our semi-gloss finish involves four coats of lacquer. The guitar is hand sanded between each coat. This process takes about four days to complete. Seagull high gloss models use eight coats of lacquer. The more commonly used polyester finishes wrap the guitar in a thick, plastic blanket that muffles the vibration of the top and inhibits aging.