[Arran]

 I thought of one way around this problem which would achieve a similar look to how it was originally. You could use a type of veneer that has rays that run across the grain, usually quarter sawn veneer, that way it will look similar but no longer have the cracking problem. The cabinet maker did this with the cabinet on my Rogers Ten 60 cabinet, the grain is vertical, just like the control panel, but it has rays going across the grain. I'm not sure what species of wood they used for this but it has a similar effect.
Regards
Arran