Mijostyn, do we imagine that any of the very best cartridges are manufactured by a machine? I think they’re all ultimately hand made. Also, you’re a fan of Schroeder tonearms, many if not most of which are made of wood. Tonearm changing shape would be much more consequential than cartridge changing shape. Metals change dimensions due to temperature changes too, so I would not be concerned about a wood body cartridge unless it sounds bad.
Since the load resistance is a function of the phono stage circuit as well as of the cartridge choice, I wonder how Allaerts can make such a definitive statement about how properly to load their cartridges (“845 ohms”).