As per the stuck fixed cup, that was my doing! I must have really torqued it in there.
As an update, I called several LBS's, and none of them had facing tools! Probably for the best, anyway, as most of these shops know nothing about steel frames any longer.
Then I called my not-so-LBS, the guy who has built frames and has all necessary tools. He fell on the side of those who hold with the spindle as a problem. His opinion is that the cups and spindle are designed for some degree of angular irregularity, and that there would have to be a significant threading issue for the cups to be the culprit. I described the
ever so slight binding (not sure I emphasized that enough here), and opined that if the cups were too far out of parallel, there would be significant binding on one portion of the rotation, and then significant play on another. He thinks the culprit is the tiny irregularity on the spindle race.
His recommendation was to pack with lots of grease and ride as is. Maybe he just doesn't feel like facing the BB shell!
My other option is to buy a $20 Miche sealed cartridge.