How hard would it be to put a jumper wire from Q12 to Q8 and do a test? You shouldnt need to solder anything, that you said risks cracking the board and you could just disconnect afterwards if not happy with it
Easy as mate just get some tinfoil and scrunch it down over the contacts on the chip, it looks to be the ones over on the right hand side. It wouldnt matter if you bridge them all down to Q8 as its the lowerst Q that will sound the alarm. Go on be a hero!
