I made a test piece to practice glueing the top and veneer and route the roundovers:

Pretty happy with that (mind that it’s not yet sanded really well).

I first glued the veneer to the top as a whole and then cut it out together with the jigsaw. This way, I didn’t have to cut the veneer with a knife, which causes cracks easier and then you’ll end up with the veneer protruding in your glued sandwich, which makes it easier to break.

So, after glueing the veneer to the top and cutting it with a jigsaw, I glued that to the ash core, routed the top and veneer flush with the body core and finally did the roundover in a lot of small steps.

First, I got burn marks from the router, but after lowering router speed and increasing feeding speed, I got it just right. No burn marks and a smooth edge. That’s what this test piece was meant for .

I used a small paint roller to spread the glue over the veneer in a very thin layer, making sure the grain was properly filled with glue. The other part (ash or maple) I spread the glue with a card in a much thicker layer. Pressed it together with as much clamp as available / possible. Before glueing, I also covered the sides of the ash with masking tape, so I do not have to sand the excess of.

Now, onto the real stuff…