Bow string material and quietness

[snowplow]

Hey guys. I have a Javaman Helmsdeep I bought used. It is super quiet and I love it. I needed a new string and bought an awesome 6 strand ultra from Pierre @ SBD. The bow is much louder now regardless of silencer placement or brace height. (this is no nock on Pierre's product at all)

I am trying to figure out what goes into this equation?

I have bought hush puppies (My guess of what is on my old string) and installed the silencers on the SBD and no gain. I haven't yet replaced the SBD yarn ends with Bow Hush but it seems like that isn't going to do much. Even the string itself looks just like the SBD I got. Its very skinny but it may be an 8 strand not sure.

Is string material a factor?

What am I missing?

I wish I could just figure out what it came with!

[JamesKerr]

String material does make a big difference

[JRY309]

You may have to try a different string material,I've had bows quieter with different materials.Some with 450+,some with 8125,some with Ultra Cam.I really like the new BCY-X,fast and quiet on my bows I've made it for.

[LBR]

Is string material a factor?

On some bows, definitely.  Materials with Vectran (450+, 452X, BCY-X) are usually quieter, especially on bows that are picky about string material.

How the string is made, nock fit, tuning, strand count, arrow weight, silencer placement, etc. can all make a difference as well.

[slowbowjoe]

Yup, different bows like different strings. Don't know till you try 'em. D10 made one of my bows incredibly quiet, and needed two sets of silencers on another to get close to quiet. Both were equally fine hybrid types.

[Robert Armstrong]

BCY-X is my new favorite. LBR made me an 18 strand for my 57# and it is fast and quite. I belive it is the same speed as skinny strings I've tried. Have you tried moving your silencers to different locations or changing brace height?

[Robert Armstrong]

Ha HA HA I guess so. got distracted at the end of that post.

[snowplow]

Thanks guys. Is there any way to tell what you have?

[JamesKerr]

Chad what strand count do you find to be generally the quietest with bcy x

[JamesKerr]

Whoops double post sorry

[Flying Dutchman]

I have SBD strings on all my bows. As quiet as a little mouse farth... Same for my buddy Hubi.
You must do something wrong here. Did you order it at the right length? If the string needs many twist to reach your brace-height it's no good. SBD strings need to have only a few twists to perform well.
I would contact Pierre to find out what goes wrong here. Fine gentleman as he is, he will help you for sure!

[nineworlds9]

I did the whole super skinny thing and to me there's really no point in going less than 8 strands on a string, just seems like a point of diminishing returns, and lot more chance of string being nicked/cut by something sharp.  

Like was just said, twists is a factor.  Too many twists and you're turning the string into a spring and of course if you pull and let go it will go DOING, LOL.  That's why Pierre and other makers insist on customer ordering according to actual string length and not just generic AMO number.  

Also, less strands in my experience also raise the pitch, could this be what you're hearing??  Pitch and volume are two different things.  Maybe the pitch is just higher and now sounds unpleasant to your ear?  

You're gonna have to play with brace height and silencer placement a bunch on this one bud.  String material and strand count can throw a wrench in the "recommended range".  My guess is with such a skinny you may have better luck at a lower brace height than you think on that bow.  Perhaps 1-4-1/2" less than whatever the recommended range on the Helms is.  Also, you will need to try moving the silencers from the 1/6, 1/5, to the 1/4 points on the string and see how it changes things.  

You could have Chad make you a thicker BCY-X string or have Allen at Tenring make you about a 9-12 strand Rhino, and just be real exact on what length you get, I'd take the SBD, get it set to a slightly less than a middle of the road brace, and then measure the string strung.

Trying to figure out tuning 'issues' like this is half the fun of this sport IMHO.  LOL.

[SteveB]

Got to remember that strand dia varies greatly. 8 strands of one material could be the same dia as 14/16 of another.

[nineworlds9]

Originally posted by SteveB:
Got to remember that strand dia varies greatly. 8 strands of one material could be the same dia as 14/16 of another.

100% true, should have emphasized this in my first post.

[LBR]

I've been using 18-20 strands of BCY-X on everything from very light to moderately heavy with the same results--very stable, very quiet, and over the course of a little over a year now very durable.

I've never twisted a string to the point it made a noticeable difference in noise.  I ask for specific lengths because I'm making a custom string and I think the customer should get just that--it should look as good as it performs--but on my personal bows I'll shoot one that has more twist that I'd send out and I don't see/hear any difference.  A huge amount and it will probably affect the durability though.

As noted, some materials are a lot thicker than others.  X is a small diameter material--18-20 strands is about the same diameter as 10-12 strands of Dynaflight '97.  Just large enough that you don't have to do anything extra to get a decent nock fit.

Chad

[damascusdave]

The quietest string I hsve is part 8125g and part b50...my stringmaker will no longer build these since he discovered BCY-X...my favourite X string is a 21 strand...I learned long ago if that changing something makes things worse put them back to the way they were

DDave

[frank bullitt]

Yeah Dave, folks have been mixing dacron with HP materials since the begining of Fast Flight! Like a knifmaker trying to create the best qualities needed in a blade.

So have the string folks like BCY, have been working to blend the best of all into string fibers!

[L82HUNT]

"X" is proving to be a great material.  I've made strings with brownell and BCY. Ultracam,rhino, D97,D10, trophy, 450.  And "X" is the best
   A nice prestreached string, shoot the bow a few times and the string is done moving.  Colors are really nice in it, doesn't bleed

[snowplow]

Hmm, the pitch is definitely different. I'll have to back to back test to see about volume. The old one just makes a really light 'thud'. The new one makes a 'tink'. It went from a really natural sound to a very unnatural one. I think that even over volume is my biggest complaint.

I just talked to Greg (Javaman). This might be a stock 8 strand string out of D-10. It is also really small. Just a touch bigger than the 6 strand SBD. Cant hardly even tell.

[snowplow]

Hmm, the pitch is definitely different. I'll have to back to back test to see about volume. The old one just makes a really light 'thud'. The new one makes a 'tink'. It went from a really natural sound to a very unnatural one. I think that even over volume is my biggest complaint.

I just talked to Greg (Javaman). This might be a stock 8 strand string out of D-10. It is also really small. Just a touch bigger than the 6 strand SBD. Cant hardly even tell.