Do wooden arms warp

I guess some of us are getting a woodie from this intense conversation. Now THAT kind of woodie does warp over time for sure. (That's just to be funny, Redglobe. I hope "woodie" does not offend you.) It might be helpful to go back to the question posed by my friend Dopogue; has anyone here actually had an experience wherein his wood tonearm warped or changed shape to such a degree that there was a misalignment detectable with a protractor (even at the micron level)? If so, I would like to hear details.

Vetterone, I did not know that the Schroeder LT is made right here in the great American Northwest. That's cool. It's on my wish list.

Tony, I don't know why you take such a purist approach. All materials have plusses and minuses for this use. If one takes steps during manufacture to ameliorate the negatives of a particular material, such as sealing wood or impregnating it or whatever, why does that negate the argument that wood tonearms are not or need not be problematic? By the same token, then, it would be out of bounds to dampen a solid metal arm wand so as to minimize its tendency to develop resonant peaks (if such were the case). And Vetterone has correctly pointed out that most metals will also warp to one degree or another, in response to heat and humidity changes.

Despite my earlier naysaying, this thread has had at least one positive outcome. It made me dig out my old 12" cherry wood tonearm, bought here on Audigon for either $200 or $250, and stick a Denon 301II on it. The Denon has been languishing unplayed and so had the tonearm. The combo is now making beautiful music together on my much-modded (by Jean Nantais) Lenco L75.

Happy holidays to all.

Oh yeah, no warping.

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.