I'm in the process of "cleaning up" (mostly removing the ugly camo paint job and fixing the serial number) the 66", 40#, 1962 Bear Polar I recently acquired, and will shortly be in need of a new string. Maybe I've just been looking in the wrong places, but I have not been able to locate any string length and brace height charts for vintage (pre AMO) bows, so I thought I might as well ask the question (which has probably been asked and answered many other times here) and quit roaming around the Internet and slamming keys on my keyboard. All I have found are comments like: "The AMO standard string length is 3.5" less than the stated AMO bow length." and "The string length should be 4" shorter than the measured length, nock to nock following the recurve profile.". The closest string I had on hand measured 62.5" and the bow measures 66" nock to nock, so I'm thinking I'm good to go with a 3.5" shorter string. Well, I string her up and have a 6.5" brace height, which off hand sounded a little on the low side...maybe between 7" to 8" (?). So, I shot it at 6.5" anyway for about 25 shots, and it shot pretty good ! But, it just didn't seem to be the right brace height. And yes, I know I could have twisted the string to change the BH to whatever I wanted (within reason), but I didn't want to mess with the string that was already "right" for the other bow that it belongs to. Secondly, when I order a new string, I would just as soon not have to over or under do the twisting routine to the point that I screw up the twist pattern look of the custom string and possibly even the "nock lay"(or fit). I'm thinking 12 strand B-50 at about 61" to 61.5" actual length.
I would appreciate all experience and advice on the length, number of strands, material (B-50 or ?), construction, padded loops (?), etc. I will then feel properly armed/educated to purchase the correct string. I know the custom string makers out there must go through this sort of thing all the time, but I just didn't feel good about throwing the decision all on them by simply saying the bow is a 66" recurve. Thanks for any help.
Topic: '62 Polar string length and brace height (Read 541 times)
