I recently made a trade for a Chastain Wapiti Takedown recurve that was made in 87'.

I love the bow, looks great and shoots great.

The string was worn out and I ordered a replacement. With the old string, the bow seemed to work best with a brace height around 7 1/2. Recommended is 7 1/2 - 8".

I had much trouble getting the new string to stop stretching but it's worked itself in. When I brace at 7 1/2, the bow is noisy but very minimal hand shock. I have to move the brace to 8" to lose the noisyness but it's really bad hand shock at 8".

Not sure what I should do. In the past, I've always kept relatively the same brace height when changing strings.

Is it common for the brace height to change with new strings?

Any recommendations?

I have two that I shoot at 7 3/8". They're always quieter for me at the brace height with the least amount of shock. All I hear and feel is a mild thump.

Try going back to 7 1/2" and move your string silencers around.

Are the specs on the strings the same?

yes

Is this one of the dacron only bows?  He used to make ff tips on request only.  Dacron strings always felt handshocky to me at any setting, but I had one of his recurves a long time ago and I shot it at 8" on a 62" bow.  It was a ff model, though.

Mine shoots best at around the 7 3/4". I have 2 and they both seem to like that height.

Mine likes a higher brace -  no less than 8".