Is is possible to increase neck mass by buiding it up somehow?

[Paul Statman]

For clarity, lemme see if I'm hearing the story correct:

You've got a clone of an instrument that was made 100 years ago that originally had a skinny neck that was modified to be a wider fingerboard that was more recently modded a decade ago to have the modded clone neck modded again with a big shim under the fingerboard and now you want to have the whole rest of the neck modded again but want to keep all of the original modded clone geometry specs or is it the original first gen unmodded specs?????

Combine all that with a pretty obvious assumption from anybody that might actually take on this task that there is a fairly high risk of in the end you'll not be happy with the latest mod and then ask them to mod it all back to some previous incarnation of mods.

It doesn't sound like this is a mandolin problem....

It sounds like maybe you've had a bad experience as a repairman, but thanks for your input.

[fazio]

I think you could eventually find someone that would do this kind of compromising work, but it’s kind of like shopping for an unscrupulous plastic surgeon that will perform whatever procedure you ask for. Anything requiring wood removal will produce nothing but heartache and will destroy your fine instrument, even if someone promises you otherwise. BUT, have you considered something like a sleeve… I’m thinking dental procedures with a cast taken and a shaped prosthesis (I’m serious!) There are a few violin restorers that have begun using 3D scanning/printing and CNC for very delicate restoration without wood removal (think patching of wormholes) and the restoration community is getting more and more conservative. I’m envisioning a sleeve made of something impervious to sweat that is tacked in place so that it could eventually be removed. I’m dead serious. Find an adventurous prosthetist. Think of it as a comfort accessory. Nobody screws a tonegard permanently to their instrument even if it stays on there all the time.

[Paul Statman]

Thanks for all the response and ideas, folks. Despite my attachment to this mandolin, I think that the best advice I can take from this thread is to part with it.
Thank you all for your collective guidance and wisdom.