I have been reading about tapered shafts and would like to try some out. I see there are quite a few jigs that can be bought or made to do the job. I like to do things myself so I will make them. I currently shoot a Bear Montana long bow with 11/32 cedars. What I would like to know is if I will need to go to a larger shaft with the same spine or if the spine needs to start stiffer due to the tapper. My bow is 50# and I'm using 50-55# shafts.
Start with a stiffer spine and taper down to 5/16".
If you are talking about tapering the fletching area 9-10 inches it will have a minimal effect on spine, about 2#. The bending occurs primarily in the middle.
Use the same spine group as your parallels, you won't notice a difference with a 5 lb spine group.
I usually taper 16 inches and it does affect spine a bit more. I do these long tapers to get some really sweet shooting arrows off my self bows. For the shorter, more common tapers, Bjorn and John are certainly correct.
Most of the competitors for the world longbow use parallels for myself tapers dont shoot any better. And they cost more talk to paul jalon at elite arrows.
They don't cost more if you do it yourself .... I have always had very good results with tapered shafts. I would think that shooting 50-55's out of a 50# bow is a bit on the light side. i usually start at least 10#'s heavier than my draw weight, especially if you are going to shoot broad heads.
Nothing but tapered, barreled, or breasted for me. Any of these shoot much better than parallel for me.