string silencers ... how many ??

[sentinel]

I'm setting up my new PCH and the bow string was suppose to come with four rubber spider silencers but instead came with a pair of Wooly Whispers (I already have another pair of the Wooly Whispers). The owners manual says to use the four spider silencers set at specified locations. Is there a noticable increase in the effectivness of quieting a string when two pairs of silencers are used instead of just one pair ?? How would the use of two pair of silencers affect the performance of the bow??
Thanks.

[KentuckyTJ]

First thing I would do with any Widow is get a new string with padded loops. That will help more with the string noise. It's bow design and string slap that makes the noise. If there is less then you won't need as many silencers. Pad the loops to 16 and see how you like it. String silencers are a band aid for a problem...eliminate the problem.

[JRY309]

On a Widow SAV I had it was very quiet with Bow Hush and a pair of whoolie wisps on a padded loop D97 string.I would get comments on how quiet it was.

[kat]

Sometimes I use four, and sometimes I can get along with two.
When using four; I measure the string length between where it contacts the limbs when it is strung.  I then cut the distance in quarters, and put a pair one quarter of the distance from each end. I then put a pair one third the distance from each end.  This seems to hit the noise at the harmonic distances.

[JC]

How many? As few as possible, imho.

With a recurve, it is far more important to me to minimize the string slap where the string contacts the limb. Wind bowhush on the string where it contacts there, one small set of hushpuppies at the 1/3 or 1/4 (my preferred) points on the string. If you need more than that, I suspect you need to fiddle with brace height and arrow tune.

[Don Stokes]

Four rubber string silencers will more than likely rob lots of energy from your bow that would otherwise go into the arrow. If you want to see how much, bare-shaft tune with and without the silencers. You might be amazed. The worst case in my experience was a fellow who had put several sets of rubber spiders on his string, and when we removed them his spine went up more than 20#. The bow was very quiet, but he could have been shooting 20# less draw weight and gotten the same performance! I use only lightweight silencers, as close to the tips as possible. The closer to the center of the string they are, the more effect the weight has on the performance of the bow.

As KentuckyTJ pointed out, there are better ways to quieten a bow than heaping on string silencers.

[BowMIke]

I agree with JC. Go with the Bowhush on string ends and split one Hush Puppy at 1/3 or 1/4 locations and that might be all you need.

[jamed]

4 for me.  A pair of Hush Pups cut in half and placed at the 1/4 and 1/3.  Bow Hush on the ends.  Best combo I've found!

[Running Buck]

The woolie whispers that were shipped with the bow work fine. Split one set of whispers into four and place these at 1/4 and 1/3 points on the string. This will cover the two highest harmonic points without putting a lot of weight on the string.