Thought I'd update. The bass was given a very nice restoration by luthier Scott Jensen here in Minneapolis. This included a neck reset, new fingerboard, various crack repairs, repair of the old neck break damage. He did a wonderful job.
I've been using it for orchestra and chamber music for a couple months now and I couldn't be happier. The bass sounds fantastic; great projection and depth and very easy to play. So, I guess I got lucky!
Doing Beethoven 7 in about a week, so I suppose it could use an extension, but I'll make due as is for a while.