Pete Riggle Woody tonearm

You guys are making me feel good. I just bought a pair of 2SWs, just because I could not resist. They are on the way. I need to talk to Pete about them, I think.

From photos, it looks like the headshell could rotate to any offset angle, since it is held in place by only a single screw. Does Pete provide a guide for setting the offset angle? After owning a Reed tonearm and after hearing a Talea in my neighbor's system (Yes, Reed and Talea in two different homes on the same block in Bethesda, MD), I have come to wonder whether there is something special about wood per se as a tonearm material.

Nikola, What did they measure?

Talea also uses but one screw to affix their rudimentary headshell to the wood tonearm wand. In fact, by inspection of photos, the two tonearms appear to have a lot in common as regards the implementation of a headshell. For one thing, in both cases, I wonder how efficiently energy can be transferred away from the cartridge body. In both tonearms there is a wood/metal interface at the juncture of the headshell/arm wand (this creates an impedance to energy transfer), and then there is the matter of the single screw attachment, which might not afford max transmission efficiency, as regards energy. I am engaging in silly audiophool speculation; I have heard the Talea, and it works!!!

"Very adequate"?
That's not up to Mikey or J Valin superlatives.

Dear Mark,
I gather you are an aficionado of ZYX. I have heard only one model (the UNIverse) in one tonearm (the Talea), and the combination was superb. So good that I wonder whether there is a special synergy between the UNIverse and either wood tonearms or unipivot tonearms, or both.

I gather that Mr. Riggle will build the arm with effective mass to suit one's chosen cartridge, which is pretty nifty and rather unheard of among snootier tonearm makers. Of course, anyone far gone enough to order a hand-made wooden tonearm is likely to want to use it with a wide variety of cartridges.