Along the lines of plating....I've heard that a silver PLATED horn can be harder to tune? Or sumtin like that? And I also assume that the lacquer has no effect on sound quality, right? It's just a color...right? Just checking! Thanks!

Silver plated - harder to tune? Sounds like something an idiot salesman would say at a music store to steer a customer away from something they didn't carry. A heavy heavy lacquer job (particularly those that are solid colors like La Sax or Selmer white, for example, that require many layers) can dampen the sound - warming the tone by supressing the natural emission of higher harmonics through the brass. Acoustically, higher frequencies don't travel through/around materials as efficiently as lower frequencies. That's why you hear your idiot neighbor's car stereo from two blocks away but it's all bass - no treble, so to speak. I don't think a normal lacquer job is thick enough to make a big difference - there's just not enough surface area on the smaller horns for harmonic suppression to play into the overall tone very much. I've delacquered horns before and they played awesome when I was done working on them - but that was more on account of all the other things I did to improve the way the horn played. Don't be afraid of how the finish of the horn will affect it's sound - just stay away from any blue or white or red saxophones as I think it's a gimmick.