OK. We all know that everyone has a personal "formula" for placing string silencers on longbows and recurves. And everyone also knows that it is often an inexact science of trial-and-error.

But here my proposal: I would like to begin a thread about silencer placement that embodies not only the anecdotal evidence and experiences folks have, but also some discussion about why silencers should be placed where they are to provide the greatest noise dampening effects on the string. And any other related information about silencers -- material, attachment, etc.

My hope is that this thread can provide a comprehensive contribution that folks can use as a reference in the future -- it would be nice to have it added to everyone's favorite thread list!

Looking forward to your contributions! Trillium

Depends on how many you want to put on. I'm of the opinion that 2 small ones are more effective than 1 large one on each limb.

I measure from string nock to limb tip, divide by 3 and place the silencers at the 1/3 and 2/3 measurement. Rarely have to move them much at all. As for material to use.....I don't think it makes enough difference to even discuss most of the time.

I don't know much about the tech side of where to place the silencers in relation to string harmonics and such stuff as that, but I did learn a valuable lesson recently.

I had complained about my recurve being a wee-bit noisy for my liking. I am using cat whiskers and had them placed on my string at the "normal" spots where I have placed them on other bows with success (about 1/3). One afternoon while shooting in the yard, I worked the silencers down the string a couple inches and took a shot. Wow! What a difference! The noisy bow just went almost silent. I never realized how much difference just moving the silencers a short amount on the string could make in the noise level of a recurve.

From what I've read from the most knowledgeable sources, I get that it's about harmonics-neutralizing the string vibration by finding the right spot on the string .

That right spot will vary bow to bow, top limb to bottom. 1/4's and 1/3's seem to be the most often used placements, at least as a guideline. Your bow will have it's own sweet spots.

Playing around with mine for some time, I now have one small cat whisker, tied on with either serving or string material, or strong waxed nylon thread, 1/4 top limb, 1/3 bottom limb. Found that suggestion offered by the bowyer on another forum. I'm shooting an excellent "high performance" hybrid.

One needs to moderate the dominant harmonics, the third and fifth harmonics. I place them at the corresponding locations of L/6 and L/10 away from each nock end, where L is the length of the string.

Braco out

Well, A good start is the get your brace height-string, form loose and arrows all tuned up so ALL works well together..:)

I use the rubberband 'catwhiskers on some of my bows..

I have my wife close her eyes and listen when I shoot-loose..Her hearing is MUCH better than mine..Like a hawk..:)

Then I tie the catwhiskers on about 3-4" down from the spot where the recurve's limb lays on the rcurve when braced..

And shoot a few times again and have her listen.. Then I move the catqhiskers up a half inch, down a half inch and see IF she can detect a better silencing of the bowstring..

I don't shoot any skinny strings..and my arrows are all 9-10 GPP woods.. I;ve never had any critter jump the string even at 12 feet..Jim

I think the very best place for string silencers is on someone else's string...my stringmaker is Rooty and that man can build a string that is dead quiet without string silencers most of the time...I simply hunt only with those bows that do not require string silencers

DDave

I agree with camodave.

If they have an influence on the way any given bow shoots and if you have to reproduce that each time you change them, or the string; why not tune the bow till it's quiet and have one less thing to worry about reproducing?

I started putting them on because that's what everyone else did. Then I got lazy and didn't put any on a couple of my last bows. After a few comments about how quiet my bows were without them, I don't bother any more.

If I start hearing noise.....I know to start looking at the bow.

I use silencer size and location to fine "tune" arrow flight. Closer to the center and they'll slow the string more and cause arrows to shoot stiffer. Closer to the limb tips and they slow the string less and cause arrows to show weaker.

Braco: So, are recommending four silencers per string -- one pair at L/6 and one pair at L/10?

I use bowjax which make it very easy to fine tune the sound because they can be slid up and down freely. As far as location one of my bows likes them out away from the limbs and another likes them up very close to the limb, so I do believe that it is very individual to the bow. Having said that, I need to play with the brace height on the bow that has the bowjax near the limb because it is still noisy.

I not use them much at all. Reason being is that I never had silencers on my target rig and learned by sound that a tuned bow is quiet, a bad release has its own noise. With that said, I make my adjustments according to the sound with all of my rigs now. I found that the right strand count in the string for a given weight range of the arrows is key.For example i use 8125,D97,& ultra cam materials. I made identical strings from 6 strands on up and arrived on the conclusion that 12,12, &14 strands suit me best. I tend to think that when it comes to equipment I rate the importance as arrows,string,bow.

Don't use them either,and I shoot endless strings of my own making on all my Bear recurves. It's all about arrow weight and tuning. Anything on a string slows the bow down!

Use wool/acrylic sparingly on my bows with B-50 strings. 1/3 and 1/4 rule on lower and upper limb respectfully. That is only after I have tuned to the quietest I can get it without any silencing.

However, I have to agree with camodave on Rooty's strings. I picked up a 50's Root Gamemaster and had seen that Cameron had similar bows so contacted him for advice. He offered to build a string and send it to me to try out. Very impressive...well designed, no vibration, fast and very quiet!

I had a B-50 built for the Gamemaster as well by an excellent string maker and there is no comparison... the difference is in the materials and the design.

Rooty's string is made from low stretch but is not a "skinny string." It has adequate mass, especially at the loops but the modern materials produce less vibration, which I believe is actually better for the bow.

I am going to try them out on a few more select bows throughout the winter and expect to be pleasantly surprised.

Use good soft rubber catwhiskers(mine are made from lure skirting)and one on each end of the string is all you need. I don't worry much about location. MIne are just above (maybe an inch)midway between the serving and where the string last touches the limb, or on longbows the loop. Harder rubber like BW uses doesn't work nearly as well. If you use yarn or some other form of silencer then it may well take more. Nothing is more deadening to sound then soft rubber.

Note, I use six. Three up and three down. You're trying to get rid of oscillation. That does the trick.

Bowmania

I allways used four silencers spaced out at equal legths and my silencers are hand made from yarn and are smaller than most. there seems to be a better and more affective effect when more than two are used, but the deer still can duck the string.

Trillium,

No. I recommend just one of each. Everything you add to the string takes away a few feet per second, so two pairs are not desirable. I usually put the L/10 one on that part of the string facing the upper limb to ensure that it is never perceived in my peripheral vision. The L/6 one is placed on the string facing the lower limb.

Ok, the asymmetry is probably not hugely aesthetic but honestly none of my colleagues has ever noticed this; or at least never made any comments.

The second reason I only use one of each is that it does not really matter!

When I carried out a Fourier analysis of the waveform, I noticed that the location of the third harmonic, whilst dampening the peak energy of the third, also had significant impact on the energy dissipation of the fifth!

Further analysis yielded similar bilateral effects between the fifth harmonic peak energy dissipation location and the third, a nice copacetic effect. Effectively, almost two bangs for each fur ball!

The conclusion is, if you place them precisely at their relative harmonic locations, one gets a dividend for the next harmonic.

This is consistent with what others have being saying about how they select their locations 1/3 and ¼ etc and them moving them up and down to find the sweet spot. They are empirically finding the peak energy dissipation locations.

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating”. My bows are almost silent apart from a very soft thump on release. Actually if gives the impression that there is no power there at all! An observer would sense that a 60 lb bow poses no danger because of the pusillanimously sounding gentle thump.

Braco out

I have a bit different opinion on bow silencing. I use 2 silencers and for me the best with only two are soft catwhiskers. If I hear more then the string slicing air I sell the bow. I hate hearing a twang, thunk, or any other loud sound. It must work, jumping the strings not something I worry about. Of course I only shoot walking or standing with head down, non-alert deer.

I think I just had an aha moment thanks to Braco. I space my silencers at even distances from each string nock. I've been looking at the string as two different entities. The top half of the string and the bottom half of the string. I guess the string vibrates as one unit not two. Duh. Now a question for Braco. If I place a silencer at L/6 and L/10 from the bottom string nock verses at each L/10 from the top and L/6 from the bottom would I have the same silencing effect even though it would look kinda stupid? If the answer is yes, then I think I sort of understand what's going on.

Stick silencers on and go hunting. Its not rocket science and if it needs to be you own the wrong bow.

Further analysis yielded similar bilateral effects between the fifth harmonic peak energy dissipation location and the third, a nice copacetic effect..."

Mm, hmmm.....

Catsailor,

That is excellent lateral thinking!

Yes indeed, if you placed both silencers at their correct locations on only one end of the string you should still enjoy the same silencing effect.

I am saying this from the mathematical and physical perspective alone, but it should work.

What is needed now is an experiment to check the hypothesis proposed by Catsailor.

Anyone retired and /or available and happy to undertake this experiment?

Us poor workers don’t see daylight until the weekends ?boo hoo

Bruce - Never underestimate a well-educated musician. The ones with degrees in physics can be brutal on your assumptions….

Just sayin’…

AND… FWIW. If you are serious about silencing your bow…. AND you happen to own a smart phone…. you can improve on Dire Wolf’s ATW (Ask The Wife) technique by downloading a decibel meter app. Had a good free one on my droid, but not such good luck yet with the iph….

So… Braco…. When you measure string length, I’m assuming that you mean from contact point to contact point?

GF,

Yes, measure from contact point to contact point.

I did not mention this in earlier posts because most people here shoot longbows or American flat bows. This is pretty much the same thing, nock to nock is effectively the string length.

With a recurve one has to be more cautious employing point to point contact.

With a super recurve, Covert Hunter, for example one has to be even more circumspect.

If you are employing a decibel meter be careful that it can discriminate between the launch sound and the sound of impact!

Not all meters are created equal :)

Braco out

I believe a silencer works by both absorbing the string's vibration and by forcing a node in the string at its location. SO - I always put them at points that are not natural nodes, so not at even fractions of the string length. I also put the two silencers at different distances from the ends of the string.

Well, alrighty then. I'm with GLF.

"Never underestimate a well-educated musician. The ones with degrees in physics can be brutal on your assumptions…."

I opted to go the 'no-brainer' route and just get a longbow instead.

More time shooting, less time running advanced calcs...

I hear you, man, but ya know….. When I’m stranded here at work, it’s easier to sneak in a few calculations than a couple of ends…

Who is "Rooty" that makes string's, so well?

I use Wooly Whispers, *about* midway between nocking point and where string contacts the limb. A bit of felt at that contact point doesn't hurt anything either.

Well, I found out there is not perfect math equation to tell you where silencers should go. On my Carroll's, the closer the recurve tips the better, and it took playing with them to find it. Now if I want to calculate the triangulation of a goose's ass, then I'll go to the calculator.

OK, do the harmonics began where the string is released and travel towards the bow tips, or start at the tips and travel toward the center? I assume the hole in the sounding box of a guitar is placed at one of these major harmonics for a reason. Also, I realize that a Fourier series can predict the location of nodes which have not been dampened, but after the first is dampened doesn't the amplitude and duration of those that follow change? Seems to me we ain't in Kansas anymore.

OK, do the harmonics began where the string is released and travel towards the bow tips, or start at the tips and travel toward the center? I assume the hole in the sounding box of a guitar is placed at one of these major harmonics for a reason. Also, I realize that a Fourier series can predict the location of nodes which have not been dampened, but after the first is dampened doesn't the amplitude and duration of those that follow change? Seems to me we ain't in Kansas anymore.

One of these days I'm going to zero in on the exact right spot.....good topic.

Loved the "one small cat whisker" comment...are we talking one strand? /grin

Good thread on this on Trad tech [I think it was] and the analytics of the harmonics.....over my pay grade.

"I shoot bows that don't need string silencers," which is of course a disguised backslap to us recurve guys...Its ok I can take it. /grin. but I have to reply.....I would rather shoot a bow with string silencers than one I need to grit my teeth so the deer don't hear then rattling....../grin

I don't think we should be sacrificing tune for noise. I'll take 3-5 decibels of noise for clean arrow flight. I found that I can move my silencers up and down the string to get a clean bareshaft and I don't hear an ounce of difference in noise. But my arrow flight cleans up, so....

MGF mentioned that they do the same. I think this is a great approach.

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