Lacquer is one of my favorite finishes, although it takes some work to get it how I like. I build up lots of thin coats, then carefully wet sand with 400 (or 600) grit to flatten out any surface imperfections, then buff with Tripoli and White Diamond, followed by Renaissance wax. On way too many occasions I've sanded too much and gone through the finish to bare wood, which requires starting the lacquer layers all over again. Lots of work but worth it for the final result.
It's my understanding that lacquer is generally harder and more durable than shellac. I generally don't wet sand higher than 600 because the Tripoli buffing wheel will remove the 600 grit scratches pretty easily. I also have some compound I got years ago from Don Pencil that he called "PL" compound. It's made for poly and lacquer and it'll remove 400 grit scratches without melting the finish if you run the buffing wheel slow enough. Here's a hollow form I dyed, lacquered, wet sanded, and buffed with PL compound and Renaissance wax. It has gloss like a grand piano.
Sniffing lacquer fumes can speed up that whole brain melting thing, lol....If you see smoke on the horizon in my direction in a bit, it's my brain melting.
