The thing about a straight rod vs. a curved rod that seems the most difficient, in my opinion, would be the fact that most of the force applied by a straight rod will be focused at the nuts at each end. Whereas a curved rod more evenly applies the force along the length of the neck. This might not be an issue, but I would imagine in a side by side test, you'd see that the curved rod neck is a bit more predictable in terms of truss rod adjustment.
Have you considered routing a flat bottomed channel for a curved truss rod, then taking a piece of wood wide enough to fill that channel, cutting a long curve in it, gluing the bottom piece into the neck, installing the truss rod, then gluing the top piece into the neck, which in turn gets planed down flush with the neck? I think this would be pretty quick and be much more optimal than a straight rod in an over sized (depth wise) channel.
peace,
russ