A First-timer's String and Cable Swap Thread

Brewskis

Senior Member
Well it's middle of May now, and I don't know about y'all, but I'm chomping at the bit to get back at it. If my guess is right, we're down to exactly four months until opening day.

The successful DIY setup and tune of my CS34 earlier this year inspired me to give something else a shot...changing my string and cables. Didn't see a topic about this in the DIY forum, so here goes one.

From what I've heard, the factory string and cables that came on both of my Hoyts are top-notch. Nevertheless, the ones on my Faktor 34 have a full season of shooting and hunting on them. Plus, I've been kinda interested in trying out some different colors. And like I said, what's a guy to do in the off-season to keep the archery-tinkering-bug at bay when sitting at home. A great sale run by a highly-recommended string maker on AT finally pushed me over the edge, and led me to picking up new sets for my Faktor 34 and CS34.

While I'm waiting (~3 weeks) on them to arrive, I thought I'd see what info I can gather here regarding swapping them out. I've got a vague idea of what to do, and will likely have some questions. But what say y'all? Is this a fairly simple procedure? Any tips or suggestions right off the bat are appreciated!
 

Kris87

Senior Member
I buy bows in the offseason just to have stuff to work on and tune. I'm already way ahead of you bro. :)

Here's my CST ZT I just setup with new strings from JBK. We can walk you through it here just like we did on the tuning part.

 

Kris87

Senior Member
First things first...take pics of your cable routing on the cams so you can reference them for your first time. Make note of which cable goes through which roller on the cable guard, and which cable is on top of the other. Take measurements of your current specs, ATA, BH, peep to center of nock point, speed nocks from edge of cams, take pics of the prelean the cams have if you want. You're going to have to retune from scratch, but it'll help if you at least have an idea.

Once you get everything installed, I'll go through my steps on what to do, and when to do. Its important not to do some steps before others, like tie on your loop right away to try and set nock height. There's reasons to wait. But get 'em on and get going. Good luck.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
That's a sweet-looking bow, man. I like the harvest brown with the camo limbs and that string/serving color combo.

I actually ordered my strings from JBK also. I've heard nothing but good about them, and the $50 sale that ran through last week was too good to pass up. Plus, I'm not aware of anyone else who offers a 2 year warranty on their strings and cables.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
BTW, I was originally thinking red and brown for my CS34, but after talking with Jeff, I went with a solid tan string material and green serving for it and solid red string with black serving for my black bow.

Slightly nervous about the solid tan with green serving since I've never seen such a combo, but we thought it'd be a nice match with the camo. We'll see.. ~15 business days, and counting...
 

Kris87

Senior Member
It will look good on camo. Hoyt uses tan in their factory strings, plus the green won't be too bright either. It'll match up nicely.
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Well, I'm supposedly two weeks away from receiving my strings. Lately, I've thought of a few questions I've have, but didn't write them down. I'm just going to post them here as I think of them so I don't forget. Plus, they'll also here for anybody's future reference.

First off, I've heard talk about custom strings voiding the manufacturer's warranty. However, it seems most people change the string and cables on their bow at some point in time. Has anyone actually ever encountered a manufacturer refusing to honor the warranty due to using custom strings instead of those installed/recommended by the manufacturer?
 

Mavren

Member
Brewskis, mind if I ask what strings you purchased? I'm definitely interested in following you along on this thread as the tuning one you did not long ago was extremely helpful. I have a Bowtech Insanity that I've been considering changing the strings on myself but have never done any sort of bow tuning before. Curious to see as I follow you along if the process would be similar for a different brand. Also, did you have to measure the string lengths when you ordered them or did you just provide the make and model of bow? Thanks!
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Glad to hear the tuning thread was helpful. These are the kinds of threads I was searching for but couldn't find as I started to DIY. Like you, I also had never experimented with bow tuning before, but thanks to this forum, my bows are shooting great and there have been no trips to the ER. Hopefully by documenting the help I've been getting from our local experts here, it will help others. Feel free to post your questions, comments, experiences, etc. along the way in this thread or the tuning thread, and make them even more robust and useful for all of us.

I ordered the strings from JBK Bowstrings. When I was shopping around, I found that Jeff and his strings received a lot of good feedback online, including on Archery Talk, so I decided to give them a try. Plus, he had a sale going on at the time.

Not sure about Bowtechs, but Hoyts have a sticker on the lower limb that gives the lengths of the string and both cables. I simply gave this info JBK Bowstrings when I placed my order.

IMG_0695.jpg


IMG_0694.JPG
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Mavren's question actually reminded me of another one I had.

If your bow doesn't have such a label on it showing the string and cable lengths, how would you find that out? I guess you'd have to somehow measure them yourself or contact the manufacturer? I imagine it'd be tricky measuring them yourself given the precise lengths (in the case of my bow, three decimal places).
 

Mavren

Member
Ah, never thought to check the limbs for the specs. Very helpful. I'm curious about the above question as well.
 

Kris87

Senior Member
Hoyt string specs are easy to find as you can download any of their bows off their website through the tune charts section. All cables and strings are listed there. I download all of them of them for whatever bows I have onto my phone.

If you don't know the specs. Then the proper way to measure strings and cables is under 100# of tension. Not easy to do unless you have proper equipment. Also, old strings are stretched so you wouldn't want to measure those. If you can't find the specs on the bow, or a chart, then I'd just call the manufacturer. They will know.
 

Mavren

Member
Thanks! I was able to find the string specs on the limbs as well but I'll be sure to keep this spec sheet handy.
 

Mavren

Member
Have another newbie question on the strings. When ordering on JBK's website I notice that they ask for string, buss, and control cable lengths. However, on the limb of the bow and on the spec sheet from bowtech they only list a one cable and one string size. No buss or control specific size. Is the buss and control cables the same size then?
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Good question. Hopefully someone more knowledgable will come along and give a better answer, but as far as I know Bowtechs use a binary cam system where both cams are connected together by a single cable and single string.

Not sure how you'd go about ordering. Perhaps, leave one of the cable fields blank. The make and model of the bow should explain that. If it were me, I'd give them a call and confirm how the order form should be filled out.
 

pasinthrough

Senior Member
Have another newbie question on the strings. When ordering on JBK's website I notice that they ask for string, buss, and control cable lengths. However, on the limb of the bow and on the spec sheet from bowtech they only list a one cable and one string size. No buss or control specific size. Is the buss and control cables the same size then?


When you tell them the make and model of your bow, they'll figure it out. Most bowtechs take one string and two cables that are the same length. The main difference would be if it's an overdrive system or 3 track. Overdrive have a split cable and the 3 tracks are just solid served loop ends.
 

Mavren

Member
I called them and they were able to take the order over the phone. They had the specs on file so it was easy. JBK's on the way!
 

Brewskis

Senior Member
Nice! What color(s) string and serving did you go with?

Actually Jeff emailed me earlier today to let me know my two sets were on the way. I should have them this week.
 

Mavren

Member
The bow is black with red accents so I went with just a straight red string and red serving. The cables that came on the bow were a black and red combo with black serving so I didn't want to go with the same color combination. In addition, the octane accessories and QAD rest I have are red and black so I didn't want to stray away from the theme too much lol. I'm looking at 4 weeks or so for delivery so I'll be a little bit behind ya but i'll be following you along the way!
 
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