String Length

[Oliverstacy]

Just wondering what length string to get on my recurve.  It is 60"...I think I remember it needs to be 3" shorter than the stated length.  Is this correct?

It is FF rated but I may buy both a FF and a B-50 and see what it likes.

Thanks,

Josh

[Lechwe]

56"

[longstick]

Its 4"  Josh

[Golden Hawk]

57" is probably pretty close but your best bet is to measure it from then end of the loop to end of loop off the bow.

[Oliverstacy]

Okay here's what I got...new bow from a good company.  Never had a chance to shoot it last fall when I got it because I was sticking with one bow since it was my first traditional year.  

I have the original string (new) that was on the bow from the manufacture, I called the bowyer last night because I was setting up the bow so I could shoot it for the upcoming turkey season.  He states that the brace should be around 7 to 7-1/4”.  My bow strung is just over 8” BH, I untwist the string as much as I can without un-twisting the Flemish ends, and this only gets it to just under the 8” mark right at about 7-3/4”.  I measure the string and its 56” long.  

Email the bowyer this morning and explain everything above and he says he’s going to send another string out, but he didn’t state what the string length should be.  So it got me thinking what should the actual length be?

Others on this site that have the same bow have set it up with the +8” inch brace height and like the way it shoots.  While some others say the same as the bowyer that it needs to be around the low 7” mark.  If the bow was set-up with an inch longer string the brace would fall more in line with what he recommended I’m guessing.  Again I’m new to this but I have some general data.

Which is correct?

Josh

[Lonewolf Jim]

If the 56" string is giving you 8+ inches of brace height and you want 7 to 7-1/4 then you should go with the 57" string.  You can always twist it up some if you want a higher brace height.

[joe skipp]

Josh...if its a dacron string, just order an AMO 60". That works.....

[Oliverstacy]

Originally posted by Lonewolf Jim:
If the 56" string is giving you 8+ inches of brace height and you want 7 to 7-1/4 then you should go with the 57" string.  You can always twist it up some if you want a higher brace height.

Does shooting it with a higher BH hurt the bow?

Josh

[Orion]

If he's sending a new one, use it to brace the bow at 7 inches or whatever it likes.  Then after you have the string shot in, take it off and measure it.  Most strings vary a little in how much they'll stretch and even their initial length, regardless of what the stated length is.  Good luck.

[Richie Nell]

Either will work.....shoot whichever string and brace height is the quietest.

[Oliverstacy]

Originally posted by Richie Nell:
Either will work.....shoot whichever string and brace height is the quietest.

Sounds good...I guess I was confused when he stated the BH should be this and when I strung it last night to get everything all set-up it was an inch off...with the string that was sent with the bow.  The string is 4” shorter (56”) like a lot of you replied so it got me to wondering.  I have only shot this bow 3 times and it shot nice I just wanted it set-up properly.

Even with him sending me a new string I was going to play around with it and decided I would buy a few different strings of different material and shoot away.  I'm a reloader so trying different things to find out the best option is fun to me.

I’ll wait to see what string length the new string is and see what that does.  Sometimes when people get busy/distracted they give misleading information this is why I emailed him this morning (he was in the middle of building a bow when I called).  He makes recurves and longbows so I wanted to double check to make sure he and I were on the same page as to the bow I was talking about.

Thanks to all that have replied…I will shoot it the way it is until I get the new string since as others have indicated it shouldn’t hurt the bow.

Thanks again,

Josh

[Falk]

Just for the records and for Josh who is obviously quiet new to trad: since 40 years now the AMO standard is 3" shorter. Period.
If the bow goes by AMO and all measurements were applied correctly by the maker - then you would want a string 3" shorter - no matter if RC or LB.

You need to experiment with lenght no matter what, because the standard is only supposed to give the "correct" brace height - which means - somewhere close to the center of a gaussian curve of all possible brace heights.

The main problem with all this string lenght confusion, as I see it, is caused by the demand for bows which are designated a true 58", 60", 62" etc. lenght.
Even if a bowform was designed to give a 60" bow it might turn out that it shoots far better with an overall heigher brace height - thus making it for exampl. a 59.25" AMO bow - since AMO bowlenght is defined by string lenght and not vice versa!

But nobody want's to buy "that", right?! Hence it's called a 60" AMO bow and the customer (you!) will have to struggle for ever to get the correct string lenght.

Happy testing!
Falk

[Dirty Bill]

4" shorter works on mine.

[LBR]

Falk nailed it.  AMO specs are 3" shorter, longbow, recurve, flatbow, whatever.  The catch is a lot of bows aren't built to AMO specs, a lot of strings aren't measured under tension (another AMO specification to get the proper length), the "shot in" string length is doing to vary depending on whether the string was pre-stretched, how it's made, etc. etc. etc.

Chad