The veneering process has gone really smoothly.  The iron-on method is the easiest I’ve used and the least stressful. You just have to take your time and make sure you’ve heated up everything enough.  I moved the iron very slowly and the cotton shirt prevented any scorching.

I did end up messing up on one side when the veneer folded under as I was spreading the iron out to the edge.  I had to rip off what I had done, which involved a heat gun, scraping, and sanding.

In retrospect, I was lucky to have used Titebond I, instead of II or III, because the original’s perviousness to water allowed me to remove the glued areas that were damaged.

After all was finally veneered, trimmed and sanded, I ended up with this (the veneer is mottled makore):

Now that they are veneered, I can cut the baffles exactly to size, and finally get going with the front and back pieces.  The fronts will be three piece laminates, with the maple routed out to accept a baltic birch or mdf substrate, and this will attach to the pieces I’ve cut to fit in the square openings. The total thickness will be about 1.25″ on front and back.