You started the instant you made the decision.
Most longbows these days are reflex/deflex design, though you can still get the old straight limbed longbows from Howard Hill, Schulz and some other makers. The r/d bows are popular these daysbecause they arereally sweet shooters and don't give up much, if anything, to recurves as far as performance. Another benefit is they don't have anything near the 'bump' in the hand of the Hill style bows. One of the best bargains in a longbow these days is the SamickViper at around $200 or the Viper Delux for a bit more. It'd be a good one for getting your feet wet again without setting you back too much coinage.
I guess one of the biggest changes over the past 30 years is the near universal use of bow stringers, to keep from damaging the bow - or yourself. Another change has been in string materials. Most bows made these days are compatible with fastflight strings but if you get an older bow you should stick with B-50 or B-500 dacron strings. Fastflight strings have destroyed a lot of good old bows.
Also, flemish twist strings have become pretty standard now. Every once in awhile somebody shows up with an endless loop string but, excepting target bows,it's getting rare to see one.
Other than that, things are pretty much as they were before you went to compounds. Bow, quiver, armguard, well matched arrowsand glove or tab, put a nock point on the string and you're ready tostart shootin'.
If you want some reading material to refamiliarize yourself with this archaic stuff (
)I highly recommend the book "Become the Arrow" by Byron Ferguson.
switching to longbow
