I still don't know how the uneven fretboard happened. I wondered if it would look better to me when I could see more of the fretboard as I was actually playing, so I assembled the guitar and played it. While I definitely saw more of the fretboard, I had to twist my left wrist around so much that it was uncomfortable to play in this position.

After that, I decided that I don't like this fretboard arrangement at all. If the guitar were a Dobro and flipped over on its side for slide, it would probably be comfortable, but for me -- No.