I have finally solved the ability to link to a file in the file structure, by using:
location /wp-content/uploads/filebase {
autoindex on;
autoindex_exact_size off;
disable_symlinks on
}
This allows free external access to this directory. Thanks to those who helped!
My next problem: the customer wants to be able to send out links to specific directories within the "filebase" directory, and not allow traversal upwards.
Is this possible?