Do wooden arms warp


I hate to sound stupid or pedantic, but I have historically done a lot of woodwork - turning/routering/bedmaking. The single biggest problem is locating wood that does not warp.
Wood cut and left to settle over 50 years continue to warp, likewise, even very old wood warps as well. In my experience when a piece is smaller/thinner it is more pronounced unless there is some lamination (not always a cure). I am yet to come across or find a treatment which stops warping. It would be nice if a manufacturer of such an arm chimes in on this thread, because arms such as: Durand, Shroder, Reed etc all have wood arms/options and they really are the most expensive arms out there.
lohanimal
A hornets nest if ever there was one. Thanks Vetterone. As person who has worked with wood I personally think that it has amazing qualities - natural fibrous structure? check sufficient structural inconsistency to prevent single dominant resonance frequency? check, Light? check? strong? check.
That said I know from experience with woodwork it can be a complete pain in the backside - the worst being getting sufficiently rested planks, and the correct grain.
Just because it is used in musical instruments so as to resonate, it can also be used to get rid of resonance and channel it away - I know a custom guitar builder and he's forgotten far more than I will ever know on this. Bear in mind that we can get hold of carbon fibre guitars, and if we want we can and do make metal instruments - so all things are capable of resonating so as to make sound.
I guess the best answer appears to be - in theory they can warp, but in the lifetime of those having owned such arms no such ocurance has ever happened and even if it does, it will be minimal given the wood selection and 'proprietary' treatment (I personally think the last one is total nonsense BTW) because wood warps over such a long time, and those treatments are highly unlikely to have been tested over 50 plus years
Rather than worry about warpage I personally would concern myself with whether the arm could get me to shake, rattle & roll. What's more important, a few microns or saving your doggone soul?
Hey, I wasn't trying to slam wooden tonearms. I was just asking questions. I have no experience with them so I was curious about any downsides to wooden arms. No one seems willing or able to answer my questions so I did a little research on wood. Here are a few facts: Wood changes dimensions with changes in relative humidity. What part of the tree and how the wood is cut greatly impacts dimension stability. Varnishes, paints and other coatings can slow but not stop the dimensional changes. Bamboo and Teak are much more stabile than Oak (by roughly a third). Now I did a rough calculation but keep in mind all of the variables cited above. A 9" long wand made from Teak wood might change length by 0.034" (870 microns) due to changes in relative humidity as the seasons change. That means, and this is all I was asking, that say you set up overhang, HTA and VTA in the summer when Relative Humidty is somewhat high. Come winter when the heat is on and the Relative Humidty drops the wooden arm will shrink causing a shift in setup. You will likely have to go back and recheck HTA and VTA. Is that the experience that some of you have had with your wooden tonearms? Again, not a slam just an analysis. It's all part of the hobby.
The main advantage from a wood arm, you can hear the weather change before you can see it. And you know when your wife did open the window and did no telly you. But, we all know, there is a Fan out there for everything :-)
Before the Reed started their tonearm production they first
compared all kinds of different materials for the arm wand.
The conclusion was that wood is the best material for the
purpose (see: www.reed.lt ). I can't remember that Fletcher
ever stated: 'I made (a better) Breuer' ( aka 'The arm',
alias 'Sumiko 800'. Now that I at last got an decent
plinth for my SP-10 mk2 I don't need to tray again to
exachange whatever of my Glanz carts for the plinth made
by my friend Vetterone. He always refused for some reasons.
But now that he reproduces some (wooden)German tonearm
in the USA I may have a better chance?