Hi,
Just wanted to throw this out there..
I'm a long time whisker user. Always worked very well for me.
I've tried some yarn puffs in the past and never liked the "wumph" sound they seemed to make if they were big enough to stop the string noise.
anyway, I made a bbo a couple weeks ago and have been struggling to make it very quiet. It wasn't all that loud, but I like as close to silent as I can.
I tried rubber like always and tried about every configuration I could think of.
Lots of whisker, a little whisker, moving all over the string, using 3..you name it, I tried it.
Weird thing was in almost every configuration, I'd get a hollow "tunk" type noise. At first I thought it was the arrow hitting the plate, or a little string slap on the limbs..so that was driving me crazy.
Then just for fun I tried pulling the string back an inch or so and "strumming" it. I could hear the tunk just slightly from that..whisker or bare string...weird.
I was feeling pretty bummed thinking my 1st bbo wasn't ever going to be quiet.
So with nothing else to lose, I tied on some old cheapy yarn puffs I had laying around. They had a short ribbon like piece sewn to them for tying. I just tied them around the string with a single overhand knot just for an experiment.
Nocked an arrow and let it fly..
...only the sweet sound of the feather swishing over the bow.
Then I remembered I had some of the famed hush puppies somewhere. I had tried them before and didn't like the results.
But after a brief search they were found.
first I tried just 2 balls of 5 strands..not quite enough.
Then I added a couple strands to each (7 total)
Nocked one and let it fly..
..oh the pure heavenly experience of a well tuned bow...
Anyway, The point I'm trying to make is..
Rubber vs whiskers maybe shouldn't be an argument but instead a valid question.... maybe instead of vs I'll say or from now on.
anyway, this was the first time I've had that the yarn far out did the rubber.
Makes sense that yarn or rubber may need to be used to best quell the noise depending on each situation coming from the harmonics of the particular setup.