Jaguar Recurve bowstring length, I don't get it

[FrankM]

Well yeah, but AMO for recurves is 4 inches right? Martin said 3 inches which is for longbows. Hence, my confusion.

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If everyone just did AMO there would be a lot less confusion.
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That needs repeating a few more times.
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[Jeremy]

Originally posted by FrankM:
Well yeah, but AMO for recurves is 4 inches right?

NO.  A bow marked to AMO specs needs a string that is 3" less than the marked AMO bow length.  It doesn't matter if the bow is a longbow or recurve - it's 3".

Bowyer's mismarking their bows "AMO" have added to the confusion.  And I have no idea how some bowyers measure their bows, some don't make any sense at all!

AMO standards have been around since Feb of '68, so I really don't know why more bowyers aren't following the standards.

[LBR]

http://www.texasarchery.org/Documents/AMO/AMOStandards.pdf

That's a link to the AMO standards.  It reads that a bow should be marked 3" longer than the string that puts it at proper brace, strings are to be measured under a certain amount of tension, etc.

It wouldn't matter if all bows were marked with the AMO.  Most have an inch or more lee-way in the brace height, which can change the string length by an inch or more.  Everyone has their personal preferances in tuning.  And you also have bowyers who have their own ideas when it comes to measureing brace height (from the front or back of the bow), "true draw", etc.

The easiest thing I've found, when it comes to replacing a string, is just measure the existing string and buy another string that length.

[FrankM]

[FrankM]

This guy has a pretty good explanation. It appears that dacron strings will be 56" out of the package, and ff will be about 57".

http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/TailorMaidMeasuring.shtml

[LBR]

His explanation pretty much mimics the link I posted.  Here's where he, ATA, AMO, etc. miss the boat.

"The Archery Trade Association (ATA) specifies that a Traditional Bowstring should be labeled and sold by the length of the bow not the bowstring length itself. A 60" Bowstring is for a 60" bow, not the length of the bowstring."

In a perfect world that would be fine and dandy--but in the real world it's useless for a lot of bows.  Some bows don't follow AMO/ATA specs, some shooters don't like their bows tuned within the parameters of an AMO length string.

I learned a long time ago--if you make custom strings, go by the actual string length.  If you don't, you will be spending a lot of time re-making strings for bows that don't follow AMO specs, or you will loose a big portion of your customers because the string you made for them doesn't fit and if you don't make good on it they won't be back.

[FrankM]

Update:
The string I have is from Stone Mountain, and is marked as 56" length, there is no AMO marking. The string measures 56" end-to-end while my bow is strung.

I've shot 100 arrows and the brace height is about 7 3/8". I figure it'll settle into 7 1/4" after another 100 arrows. This is 1/4" above the recommended brace height. But, if I would have put a 57" string on, the brace height would be about 6 1/4", what I experienced with the string Martin sent with this bow. It would take at least 30 twists to get up to 7". It seems like this bow is made for a 56 1/2" string, not a 56" or 57". If it shoots fine, is it not a big deal about the string? Or am I doing something "bad" and should get a 57" string?