That sure is a lot of initial timing. Anywhere from 32-36 is a good general range for total.
It will not hurt anything to run without vacuum advance. Most aftermarket distributors do not have them.
But vacuum advance does raise the timing under part throttle conditions (driving down expressway) to extend the burn cycle which results in better gas mileage.
when I got to looking at my curves, I found that from idle to operational speed, I needed to go to full advance as fast as possible. Used the light springs and heavy weights and disconnected the vaccuum completely.