The Cartridgeman Isolater.

It doesn't make any (mechanical engineering) sense. And certainly ruins any relationship one is trying to establish between cartridge compliance and tonearm effective mass. Especially after all the effort in recent years that cartridge makers and tonearm designers have made to machine the bottoms of headshells and tops of cartridges perfectly flat!

If a headshell spacer is required, it should be metal, of the same material as the headshell. First, so there is no differential expansion between the two parts with changes in temperature. Otherwise the bolt tension could become reduced over time. Second, wood is a cellular material and not dimensionally stable as metal, which is a crystalline material and can be machined to precision tolerances.

Putting a hard plastic washer on top of the headshell (under the mounting bolt head, or under a metal washer if the bolt head is too small in diameter) is actually a good thing Martha, and won't compromise the tight joining of cartridge to headshell. Instead, it allows for applying maximum torque to both bolts equally, with much less danger of stripping threads -- especially since so many cartridges are pre-threaded now and some of them have plastic bodies too (yikes!)

When I attended that little technical school in Cambridge, my acoustics professor, Robert Newman, had a favorite saying, "Sound is Round, and Wood is Good." But I believe he was referring to halls and instruments, not tiny mechanical devices.
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Just because a person isn't a registered buyer of a product certainly does not mean they haven't tried the product. There are such things as friends, relatives, spouses and, a used market (where in addition to being the location of worthwhile items, is often an outlet for gadgets tried and dismissed). And, the fact that such a list is being kept and a person would be publicly exposed (or unexposed) using same list is yet another reason NOT to buy one, there, Audiofeil (Bill, Mustang, 101, whomever).

Nsgarch. I agree with most of your post except to say that Schroeder makes an excellent arm from wood. Also, headshell screws may be tightened and loosened to affect changes in dynamics. I have especially noticed this with the Schroeder arm.

Doc, the Schroeder (and the old Grace wooden arm) use wood for the armwand which (along with carbon fiber armwands) is a perfectly acceptable material for that purpose. However, in both cases, the actual "headshell" or fitting, to which the cartridge is attached, is made of metal firmly mated to the wooden armwand.

If you notice the dynamics change with different tensioning of the mounting bolts, I would suspect that has more to do with the cartridge (body) design than with the tonearm design -- that's just my opinion though. I can't prove it ;--)
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I have used super glue to firm up the various joints on my Maplenoll arm, including the headshell/cartridge interface. In each case, (I listened before and after each application) it improved tracking/clarity.

The advantage to using super glue in this instance is that the capillary action pulls the glue into the joint very effectively. Super glue is not as permanent as one might think and I have never had a problem removing my cartridge. If a joint needs to be taken apart and disconcerting resistance is met, applying a bit of heat to the metal part or parts invoved will encourage the glue to let go. A hot soldering iron is very effective in safely transfering heat in this situation.

Incidentally, all applications of super glue were done with the joints in their final position, ie. with headshell screws firmly in place. The glue then handily fills whatever gap is left rather than creating a new one. I very cheap, accessible and effective tweak.

I will say that I have alot of experience with fine workmanship and using super glue. I do not recommend doing this unless you are rightly confident with the process.