Chuck,
You left out the most important part of "tuning" a Brooks saddle. I had quite a few Ottusi saddles back in the 1960s. Oddly enough sold to me by Cino Cinelli when I complained that I didn't like the Unicanitor saddles on his bikes.
The primary feature of the Ottusi saddles was the cantle plate. Brooks saddles are very flat across the back and about 18 cm wide. Ottusi reshaped the cantle plate, giving it a gentle arch. This narrowed it down to about 15 cm. The rails were also cut shorter by about 3-4 cm where they joined the cantle plate. This effectively lowered the leather top relative to the rails. (It was a pain to adjust a twin bolt Campagnolo seat post in that tight space.) The edges of the saddle could then be tucked inside the rails when not in use to help keep its narrowed shape.
At Interbike this year, I talked with every Italian saddle maker about the Ottusi saddles. The rep. at the Fizik display said the shape of their Aliante model was based on the Ottusi saddle. I've been experimenting with an old Brooks to recreate those elegant Ottusi saddles. My model is a 35-40 year old saddle tuned by a man named Bittini (thank you Matteo), who shaped them for Merckx. Ted Ernest has also helped me with techniques.
Michael Allison
New York, NY