Is there a solid fuse-like item that I can use in place of a fuse, to bypass it?

WARNING: there are several people here on this thread that are recommending replacing a fuse with solid material (whether they are serious or joking). This is not a good idea. The idea of a fuse is not to protect your equipment, but to protect your environment against fire. When a fuse in a preamp/amp blows, it means the device is trying to draw more current that it was designed for. For example, if an electrolytic cap burns through, it will "short to ground" and cause the device to pull as much current as possible.

So, many people are saying "your fire protection is at the main circuit breaker". This is only partially correct. For things such as a garbage disposal - this is a motor and will definitely trip the main circuit breaker because of how much current it can actually pull down the line.

Now let us look at something like a preamp. It has an internal transformer that will convert the 115 volts A/C to something like 15 Volts AC - a voltage that can be used by the DC regulators. The transformer is also not that big - usually not larger than 50 VA. This means that the transformer will only be able to pull and provide current for 50 watts. So, if something shorts inside the preamp and causes it to pull everything it can, it will still only pull a limited amount of current. The main 15 amp circuit breaker is NOT GAURANTEED TO TRIP (since 15 amps is basically 1850 watts of power). This means your little preamp can start a fire if you have a "solid block" in place of the fuse.

Now I can see why companies are filling the fuse canisters with sand/epoxy/oil or whatever, its to keep the damn thing from dancing.

That dancing in the animated gif is actually an extreme version of electro-mechanical resonance.  This is another factor that affects sound quality.  The electro-mechanical resonance in the fuse creates a bright/harsh sound and can reduce bass.  The sand/power/oil filler is also to dampen this resonance and improve sound quality and current stability.

Ok, sand filled fuses may be to prevent glass shatter.  Those are more industrial type fuses.  However, audiophile fuses can use an oil type or powder type filler to reduce/damping electro-mechanical resonance. 

Fuses do not affect the sound.  If they did, do you think manufacturers of thousands of dollars' worth of equipment would not already put some 'audiophile' fuses in them to make their equipment sound better ?

Sorry, but I disagree from extensive listening and testing experience.  That's all I will say because this is a subject that is very susceptible to a flame war.

As far as why manufacturers do not use audiophile fuses, there are many reasons discussed, but I would probably think it comes down to part availability and manufacturing expectations.  There are some boutique equipment manufacturers that do indeed have had a fuse upgrade as part of the standard options.