Silencers

[Buckeye1977]

Wondering if anyone's done any testing to see if a combo of 4 cat whiskers or yarn puff has more affect on the arrow spine?

[Miikka]

I think it theoretically should affect the tune a bit, but I'm still to find a noticeable difference. I shoot 3*5" so it maybe hiding some slight variations since I've only shot different silencer combos on a single bow with fletched arrows.

[Curvebo]

I recently had an experience with this. My bow and arrow seemed very well tuned with each other. The only thing was it was loud. so I went added a second set of cat whiskers to the top and bottom. It definitely quieted down the bow a good amount. However, I was getting poor arrow flight. I shot a bare shaft and it showed very stiff. I kept shooting for a while with the double whiskers thinking it was me. However it didn't change so i took off the second set of whiskers and immediately that bare shaft went back to slight nock high like it was before. Now I just need to figure out how to quiet down the bow again. I'm confident it is my release that is causing the noise. The double whiskers only masked the problem.

[Wudstix]

Personally, I have found that there is "a spot" that silencers work best at on the string.  Generally start at 25% and then slowly work to the tip.  Then back again as needed to get that perfect hum.
                            

[Miikka]

When the bow is strung pluck the string with your ear right next to it and listen where there is the most noice. Usally right around 1/4 lenght of the string as wudstix said.
I usually tune with silencers on to avoid such problems

[katman]

Any weight added or removed to the string effects tune. Question is, is it enough for you to notice. Depends on your current tune and shooting form. I know full length cat whiskers will make my bare shaft more stiff then wool since they are heavier in my findings. Also depends on how much you put on. When ultra fine tunning bareshaft at distance moving or trimming the silencer on the string will effect dynamic spine in my findings.

[GCook]

Most noise should be tuned out through brace height adjustment.  After that I'd look at string slap on recurve ends.  Are your arrows heavy enough, is your limb bolts or pockets a noise issue?
In my experience limbsaver type vibration dampners and string puffs are the fine tuning of noise suppression.

[mahantango]

They all work to a degree, but the lightest combo is obviously going to have the least effect on tune. Over the years, I have tried just about every silencer out there, and have come to the conclusion that plain cheap acrylic yarn puffs from Walmart are just as good as anything. Yes, brace height is important, but location is key. String ocillation is a function of physics. Google heterodyning. A silencer on  the 1/4 and one on the 1/3 points cancel out the vibration nodes and in my experience, work well for all bows.

[Horserod]

  Heterodyning works !!!...…….Horserod

[SteveB]

It's more about weight, placement and tuning than number of silencers.

[blacktailbob]

I prefer to use one st of cat whiskers because I can slide them up or down to find the sweet spot that works best.