I laminated my fw canopy and stand a few years ago with oak veneer. The canopy was easy because it is basically a simple box with no trim, recesses etc.
The stand was much more difficult because of the doorways etc. which required cutting the veneer into thin strips and trying to match the grain pattern. Alot of trimming with a router. In other words, it was painful and time consuming. The end result turned out very good. Notice I didn't say excellent. However a few years later, despite my diligence with applying the contact cement properly, some of the veneer has lifted and cracked from humidity and water. Midway through the project, I kept asking myself whether the whole excercise was really worth it, or whether I should have just bought a new stand (or even made one from scratch).
Recommendation- if you're going to try the veneer option, try it on an old pair of speakers or something first. Then judge for yourself the difficulties and time required for job ahead of you. However, if you are very handy and have experience at this stuff a wood veneer is the ultimate refinishing solution.
