To answer my own question.
YES. a .ttf file does have a 'base font size' and this may vary from one .ttf to another.
As stated in my comment above:
I figured out how to change the base size of a .ttf using FontForge (fontforge.org) There is a great tutorial on how to do this here: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=990853 I did have to play around with more options then noted in the tutorial to get my font just right but it works perfect!