Thinking about it,many mandolins might have benefitted from a slightly different neck angle / bridge height than they have. However,having been built to 'a design',there's very little that can be done about it other than a neck re-set. I suppose that what we all have is a well thought out 'compromise'. Maybe in the time that the great Violin builders were building,they put a lot of thought (& maybe experiment ?) into this aspect of their instruments. Relatively speaking,current mandolin design is still pretty new !.
I suppose that it would be possible for an ''adjustable mandolin neck'' / top 'mock-up' model to be made,allowing it to be strung up, with the strings running over a standard mandolin bridge, & pressure gauges to be placed under the mandolin feet in order to measure the 'down force' as the neck angle is adjusted up /down. It wouldn't be too difficult to make something like that - although in an actual mandolin build,
the flexibility of the top would come into play,& as we know - they're all different. However,it could give a meaningful insight re. how neck angle / string tension & bridge height inter-react. What we need is a mandolin body (minus back),with a neck joint that will pivot up & down & which can be bolted up as hard as a glued neck joint.
Maybe it's already been done ??,
Ivan
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