I'm happy to report that I've made a lot of progress repairing this guitar. The braces are fixed, the top cracks are fixed. I made a temporary wooden saddle for setup & measuring purposes so I didn't have to modify the original. Here she is now:
Some things went together perfectly, others not as well as I would've liked but it's good enough for a beater. Here are some pictures of the various repairs so far:
https://files.brandonfoltz.com/lg0/2...2015.51.18.jpg
https://files.brandonfoltz.com/lg0/2...2015.55.39.jpg
https://files.brandonfoltz.com/lg0/2...2015.56.03.jpg
https://files.brandonfoltz.com/lg0/2...2015.56.35.jpg
https://files.brandonfoltz.com/lg0/2...2015.59.28.jpg
https://files.brandonfoltz.com/lg0/2...2011.39.24.jpg
After stringing it up today I determined that it's definitely going to need a neck reset, no way around it. The belly bulge is a "normal" amount so my bridge doctor idea is not applicable. But the action is 4.5mm at the 12th fret after everything was setup pretty much as well as it can be while still keeping *some* break angle over the saddle. The bridge isn't tall enough to shave off the necessary amount; I'd be cutting it's height in half and there would basically be nothing left on the treble side since this is a slanted bridge.
Moreover, I realized that under tension the heel actually has a small gap around it. That's making me think the glue inside is already started to give, and that doesn't sit well with me for the long term:
https://files.brandonfoltz.com/lg0/2...2015.50.25.jpg
https://files.brandonfoltz.com/lg0/2...2015.50.40.jpg
I'm going to take a break from this project for a couple months and will hopefully revisit in the summer, when I'll attempt a traditional neck reset. The guitar sounds pretty interesting, even with my exotic "construction lumber" saddle. So it would be nice to make it a player. Maybe I'll just refret it while I'm at it. The rabbit hole continues...