Thanks you guys - and yeah, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I acquired it.
I was very fortunate; I was active in collecting first edition books for a while and made some (what turned out to be) smart purchases.
I got lucky finding out about a dealer that, if you can believe it, specializes in two things: first edition books and vintage guitars. I worked out a deal and did a straight-up trade - and haven’t looked back. You can’t play books 
…and while I in no way subscribe to the POV that “vintage = always excellent / always better than modern guitars” I can say that this is a truly excellent guitar. Very fun to play and the pickups can be dialed into a wide variety of tones using the on-board controls.
I am a happy guitar player.
(oh - and up-to-the-minute newsflash - I am supposed to be picking up my finished guitar body today in a couple of hours; I was able to install most of the hardware over time at Bill’s, so need some final set up, which hopefully can get done while I am away for the next couple of weeks on vacation - so hopefully I can report back when I return…)