1958 Bear 60" Kodiak ??

[Kingstaken]

Can someone please confirm this is a 1958 Bear Kodiak. 52# - 60"
I'm thinking since it has white glass it is. What string should I get?

[Drywood]

 Yes I think it is a 1958 Kodiak. I got a broken 1959 60" Kodiak and made my own 56" Kodiak out of it and learned a lot . A 1957 60" would curve in on the riser ,brown glass and start with the letter D. A 1959 has what I call brown and carmel glass ,white and red tip overlays and starts with the letter B . 
        I take others advice on strings . You have a bow to be proud of,good shooting.

[yeager]

Yep, looks like a ‘58 Kodiak to me too.  I also have a ‘58 the same weight as yours, along with 2 ‘57s and a ‘59.  I personally use a 14 strand B50 string on those bows....that’s just my preference. Others may use something different.

[bamboo]

jim--those 60" are shooters!!!---
i found this ----[not mine]--

"Early 1958's were identical to the 1957 with the exception of white glass instead of brown.  They appear to have been made on the same press. This configuration didn't last long and the "sowbelly" 1958 appeared.  Al Reader dubbed this bow sowbelly because the belly side of the sight window curves outward toward the shooter instead of curving in like a 1957.  The white glass was not very popular and was discontinued with this year model."

[bamboo]

[poached photo]i believe the sowbelly 58/white glass is the later model-[on right]-from what i can see yours is the earlier--white glass produced one year

[TRAP]

I’m guessing this topic has been debated since collectors started collecting 57 and 58 Kodiaks. Is it a 57 or a 58? 

The answer lies in what features you think are of the most importance when classifying a bow as one year or another.

The color of glass?
The type of coin?
The serial number?
The form the bow was built on?

Some white glass Kodiaks were built on the 57 Kodiak form and other white glass Kodiaks were built on what collectors refer to as the sow belly or protruding belly form.  The differences of the two do not end with the belly. The grip, the limb profile and the angle the limbs come out of the riser are also different. If you look at the pic below you can see the flatter profile of the limbs. It may be hard to see with the shadows in the picture, but when you stack one on top of the other the limb profile is pretty obvious. The bottom two bows have the same profile even though one has white glass and the other has brown glass.  The top bow is different.

Top: Protruding belly, white glass EJ563
Middle: white glass ED825
Bottom: brown glass EB093

The 1958 Bear Archery Equipment Catalog shows a Kodiak with a protruding belly.

Kingstaken, to answer your original question, I think you have what I refer to as a white glass 57 Kodiak.  I’d like to see a picture of the complete riser to be sure.  It’s kinda hard for me to tell if the belly protrudes or if the belly side is straight.

I tend to think the form the bow was built on determines the year moreso than what color glass the bow has. If you look at Kodiaks through the early years you’ll see changes (some very subtle) every time a new model came out. These differences in design affect performance and aesthetic value as well. Some tweaks in design or materials led to a successful new product and some were not welcomed by archers of the day.

Maybe Bear Archery ran out of brown glass. The brown glass 57s are notorious for having little splinters pop out at the fades.  Maybe they planned on making the 58 with white glass and got some glass in early to try it out and used the 57 forms. Maybe the new 58 forms weren’t complete at the start of the 58 Kodiak run so they used the 57 forms. Does anyone really know for sure?   Should anyone care?
 
I personally, find the 57 Kodiak (both white glass and brown glass) to be one of the best shooting Kodiak models Bear Archery has ever produced. The protruding  belly 58 Kodiak is not among my favorites.  It’s not as smooth to draw, doesn’t appear to be as fast and there’s more handshock than the 57 Kodiak.