New string Question/option

[Biggamefish]

 I am shooting a Striker Fastback 60" 50@29. I had a string come apart on me and now need a back up or 2. Strikers website says they use 18 strand fast flight string. When doing a search I don't see many strings being made at 18 strands. Is this common? I don't think  I will stray away from what they recommend but was wondering if I went with less strands would I get a better performance?

[McDave]

With modern strings, strand count is based more on nock fit than strength requirements, especially for bows in the moderate poundage ranges like yours.  Some string material is thinner than others, and requires a higher strand count to get the same nock fit.  I use 14 strands, which is way redundant in strength for the poundage bows I shoot.  I used to use less strands in the body of the string, and padding in the nock area for protection of my string nocks, and double serving for arrow nock fit.  I finally decided that extra fuss wasn’t worth the modest speed gain I got, and went back to 14 strands without any padding or double serving.

My experience is that 16 strands is most common for stock strings for mid-poundage range bows

[Biggamefish]

McDave that makes perfect sense to me. My next question is do you gain that much speed out of the fast flight strings to offset the sound that some people talk about with the b50 etc.?
I do like the fast flight because there isn't that much stretch after you get it set.

Matt

[McDave]

From my experience and what I have read, one can expect a 5 fps difference in going from dacron to fast flight.  Another few fps are possible when going from fast flight to a skinny string, i.e. fast flight with a low strand count.  I have also read articles where people have measured the “noise” difference between dacron and fast flight strings.  The conclusion was that fast flight really isn't any noisier than dacron.  However, it is a different pitch of sound.  For me, a fast flight string actually sounds quieter, because my hearing is shot at high frequencies.  For someone, or an animal, with good high frequency hearing, maybe it sounds louder.  I shoot fast flight on all bows that are built for it, which is all of my bows except for a few classic Bear bows more than 50 years old, and some antique bows that I don't shoot at all.

[Biggamefish]

Mcdave thanks for taking the time and explaining things. It all makes sense.