I picked up a Ben Pearson Arabian. The writn the bow is as follows: CAT. 977. LGTH. 4'6". SER P-843. WT@28" X50#. My question is about the length. The writing shows 4'6" which should mean 54", correct? Well, I built a 50" string, turned out way too long. I had to build a 48" string to get brace to about 8" which tells me the bow is 52". I have to add that this bow has a much larger "hook" in the limbs something similar to the X-Curve limbs of today but not as drastic of a curve. One other thing I see when strung is the tiller is off, the top limb has much more curve than the bottom limb. I'd like to hear from anyone with experience with this model Pearson. I assume the tiller being different is the result of how it was stored for years, do you agree? Here is a photo of the "hook".

Photo of the bow strung.

All bets are off on string length for pre AMO bows. The reliable way to measure length is nock to nock following the belly contour.What you could do is make another string an inch longer and then twist it to desired brace height. It may work fine, but if not you have a template.

The tiller thing is also relatively common for that Era. It will shoot fine. I had a 1960 Black Widow that looked much the same.

Looks to me like the top limb is breaking down.

Measure the tiller about where the string silencer is on the top limb, and then measure to the same place on the lower limb and measure tiller there.

fdp. I also believe the limb is breaking down.

Top limb was made longer to facilitate getting the tiller without have to sand /shave the limb. Many bows were made like this in the 50s. My Bear Kodiak II is another example

My old Bear Polar has that kind of limb tiller. I believe it was Recurvecrafter, who wrote it was called a “breasted tiller”.

I have one of them stored away somewhere that I’ve never even shot. I’ll have to dig it out and check.

The length of theme doesn't have anything to do with it. The anomaly in the tiller is localized to an are that appears to be a couple of inches, hard to tell in a picture, in front of the fade out. It is almost creating a bulge that can be confirmed by measuri g inside the strung and probably by laying the strung bow on its back on a flat surface.

Many, many bows have one limb longer than the other due to the location of the riser/grip, but that in and of itself doesn't cause that type of side view profile.

My bad memory. I just measured my 1954 Kodiak II. The center of bow is the shelf, limbs are same length from the shelf.

I have to side with fdp on this one, unless they missed a final tiller at the factory. If that's the case you'll need to shave that bottom limb to bring it in...and then put the longer string back on.

Just bought an early mustang Pearson that looks much like yours, and have witnessed a lot of early Bear bows that look that way. The mustang is tillered 3/4 of an inch positive. It shoots good, but I am a stickler for correct tiller since I make wood bows, so I will end up getting the tiller from 1/8 to 1/4 inch positive. Me son has a 50's Polar that lifted a splinter in the middle of the top limb. Tiller was out an inch plus positive.

There's a difference in a bow with a breasted or chested tiller, and a vow with a hinge in the tiller. The OP's bow has a hinge in the tiller.

Correct tiller when done dynamically has -0- to.do with a predetermined measurement. It is based on the achieving a tiller that allows the bow to be "dead in the hand" on release. That is much easier to achieve on an all wood bow that allows you to scrape aim to finalize tiller as opposed to tiller being "glued up".

Dead in the hand normally means even tiller, or plus up to 1/4 inch positive. I have never seen a glass limbed bow with hinged limbs in person, but I have seen them when they fatigue, and take set.

I have one of those it’s a freaky bow fast flat shooting but be careful stringing it it will twist ,,stick with it they are shooters jeffw

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