How important is a QUIET BH to YOU?

[geoffretired]

KC and I have a lot in common when it comes to having this need to fiddle with things.
I know that, in my case, I just can't resist. Tell me it's a waste of time and I will still go ahead. Tell me you just shoot and leave things alone, and I will still carry on as normal, for me that is.
But I think there is something more serious going on here, too. It is not just about BH adjustment, either, it could be about all sorts of aspects to do with archery where, possibly outdated information come into the equation. (I am not saying that adjusting BH makes no difference. It does, but is it true that quietest is best?)
If it isn't, then KC would not be fiddling and listening; he'd be adjusting with some other objective in mind. Is the aim to get the highest group in the target, meaning you are getting most energy into the arrow? Or is it getting the tightest groups? Setting up stabilisers is another area where very different ideas are put forward. Tiller settings?

[BorderBows]

Originally Posted by pHz

to add a twist to this

is there a difference between a quiet bow and a 'sweet sounding' bow ?

i never set BH according to sound - i set mine as rod says to have a reasonable amount of string groove still showing (as long as its within manufacturers recommended limits obviously) - i do however try to make sure my bow is otherwise then tuned as well as i can within my ability band (using the james park method)


slainte : rob

Rob, The string grooves are there for the security of the string, It stops it slipping off the edge of the limb, by making it track like a train on a rail.

If your bow shoots well, it shoots well, but it is not there as a reference for brace height. We have played with string grooves, and we changed the lengths of them to see what effect if has. The sum answer we came to was that no groove can cause trouble, and a little one is as good as a long one. as long as it keeps the string in check.

We think that brace height is there to allow the archer to find the sweet spot on the nocking point travel, and most of the time that is compromised a little with either hitting your hand (too low) or the bow being over braced and over stressed. other than that a well set up bow, can have a variable BH, and can be tuned to be quieter...

The Design of the hex4-5 has been established to try to give a quiet shoot though a variable range of BH's to allow "noise" to be further down the importance scale and allow you to work more on the sweet spot. This will allow small changes in arrow spine with BH. This should help prevent archers changing the tiller bolts to help get that spine tune. as these bolts change the geometry of the bow and thats another compormise on what should have a optimal setting.

[Robin the Hood]

I have always found the bracing height plays quite an important roll and have always set it as the first step in tuning the bow. This has always been to find the spot that is the sweetest sound.
Having set this correctly, the rest of the tuning ie. the button usually comes easy. If at any time problems arise with the tuning of the button then it may just need tweeking the B/H a slight bit.
As far as the B/H is concerned I myself have always needed it slightly higher than the manufacturers recommended height, this is due I think to a high hand. But even though some may say that I can loose in cast, I will stick with it because I do believe that until I can shoot 1300 plus, it's me the archer, that needs the tuning not the bow....
..

Paul....

[Chris B]

I think what we're trying to find out is whether finding a 'nice' sound from the bow can be used as a heuristic method to find the best groups.

nice noise = tuned bow ? i dont know.

For those of you who HAVE group-tuned at long distances; what does your bow end up sounding like?

(This has never been a problem for me, as i've never found 'good tune' & 'nice sound' to be mutually exlusive.)