I have posed that question at least 2x in this forum without response. In other places, the 2 most common responses are
- as you mentioned, laquer allows the wood to breath, which allows for natural wood aging, which contributes to tone
- finish checking, which occurs with aging laquer, is beautiful
I disagree with the first justificaton on a scientific basis and the second one on the basis of personal opinion
Kernel says:
Many of us on this forum, and over on ETSG... well, we've kind of burned out on "tone wood" discussions.
To the point where we make jokes about it, and ignore the responses that don't have a sense of humor.
I would chalk up your lack of responses on this topic to that "burnout" factor. I've seen things get ugly over on
ETSG, to the point where I left the discussion and went and played my guitar, and came back to find the thread
was locked and guys had been expunged from the forum, and feelings were still ruffled and sensitive.
Not mine. It's not much of an issue for me. I'm for making music, not fussing too much about whether a one piece
body gives better tone than a glued together body. I appreciate elegance in guitars certainly, but I've been playing my
durn Epiphone Wilshire a lot in the last week, and that baby sounds GREAT.
I bought this baby maybe 7 years ago, and have modded it extensively. Which is why it sounds good, of course.
Nothing to do with whatever wood the Chinese manufacturer used to build it, and nothing to do with the polyurethane
finish it's painted with. Those features are unimportant IMHO. I bought this guitar because of it's "cool factor..."
And then I modded it with excellent parts, and had my luthier go over it when I finished my ham-handed work.
I feel the tone of this guitar is inspiring. It's got a Gibson 490R in the neck,
and a "Golden Age" overwound hum bucker in the bridge position. Great combination...
...lots of versatility in the tone. The neck 490 has a round and full tone, lots of presence, like a great jazz tone. The bridge p'up is pure rock an roll, and the middle position blends them both, which I like best. This one's got a perfect
"Sixties slim' neck... of course it does, it's a replica of a 1962 Kalamazoo made Epi.
I bought a TonePros bridge and tail, which fits perfectly and contributes to tone IMHO.
Tusq nut, and really excellent action. The neck is fine to play. It's surely the "slimmest" of all my instruments. But I don't care. And I don't care what kind of wood it's made of. It sounds and feels great, and it's been durable and dependable for about 7 years.
Polyurethane doesn't seem to check (much). Or else this guitar is too young.
But I haven't pampered it, except for buying this guitar a fine SKB-61 case, which
protects it from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
I'll never sound like Steve Vai (or Wayne Kramer) on it... but I don't care about that either. It's
not the guitar's fault... prolly the lack of a monkey grip.
but again the incidents are rare-- they all get along. and the trrue master is the LARGE (15lb) orange Main Coon Cat -- he calls the shots the dogs do the heavy lifting 
