the serving length on the cables doesn't matter. shortening them will do you no good with speed, and the back whip knot will want to slide outof the way.

also, there's no reason to short strand a cable. it won't help with speed, and will probablyjust make headaches.

Thanks guys. I went to a different pro shop today and got the bow checked over. Guy's name is Dave Camp, he's been shooting a bow longer than I've been living, he liked the string a lot by the way, and said everything looked good and the bow is shooting great!

Shortening servings will only cause a problem if you make them too short. Too often, they're much longer than need be. The amount needed varies with each archer. If you're shooting 3d with a release and never hit your sleeve, you only need enough so it doesn't move. Adding Brownell's serving lok can help. I also see a lot of end servings that are 2-4" longer than need be. They should be shorter if for nothing but cosmetic reasons.

And yes, shortening them will reduce weight. When you reduce weight, especially toward the middle of the string, the arrow goes faster. I'm not talking 20 fps, but a foot or two per second is very often added if someone has rediculously long servings. Besides, strings look much better with servings as short as they can be. One reason I don't like single cam bows with roller guards, is that the cables are practically completely covered with servings. They'd be prettier if you could see the string colors.

Same is true with reducing string weight by reducing strands. It does lighten the string and slightly increase speed. Same principle by using 8125 instead of a heavier material. Do I recommend this? No, I actually add strands if my cam groves can handle it.

I was including things that speed freaks can do to can that extra foot per second. Heck, you can lose a foot by waxing your string heavily and frequently, but I don't recommending not adding the wax. The biggest gains come from removing brass nocks, peep holders and ridgid loops.

I use to build strings differently and then crono them to see what would happen. You can even change speed slightly by building a string with very few twists. If you build a string a 1/2" too long and then put a lot of extra twists in it, to obtain the right length, it will slow the string a tiny bit. Most of these things, by themselves, means nothing. Add them all up, and there's a detectable difference.

straight arrow, if you'll read the quote you posted from me, you'll see i never used the word string. i used the word 'cable' for a reason, because that's what i was talking about - cables, not strings. in bg's case he wants to shorten the serving on the cable to just enough to get over the cam. this, as you know, puts the backwhip knot right at, or just after, the hard roll over pt on the cam. making it this short on the cable, the rollover pt on the cam is going to push the backwhip out of the way. having a few more inches served on the cable won't slow the bow down, and will provide resistance to the serving getting pushed.

also, i'll agree that glue on the serving/string to hold things in place may work for a couple weeks, but it doesn't work longer than that. also, to use brownell's cam lock you have to wipe all the wax off the string before serving and apply the glue. this is a terrible idea and designed for people who don't know how to build strings, and to get string makers past a 30 day warranty. i fart in the general direction of anyone who puts glue on their serving.

Gibby,

I think I missed this post the other day. I know ther is nothing to be gained by short strnding a cable, but in my case that means cable(s). Two cables per limb means I'm getting the effect of 32 strands if you make me 16 strand cables. And the bow is only 55 lbs. maxed out.

gibblet,

Sorry, I read it fast and didn't even notice "cable".

I've used Brownell's Liquid Lok on most of the strings I've built. I don't take the wax off, even though their instructions say to. At the beginning, I did experiment with taking the wax off and then heavily re-waxing after the string sat for a day. I never had a problem with any of those strings. However, I decided to experiment without rubbing the wax off, and it seems just as effective. I'm not sure I would call it a glue, but even if it is, it's not harmful in any way.

Unfortunately, there is no way to know it's exact affect, because you never know what might have happened if you didn't use it on a particular serving. While using it, I have been able to make some surprisingly short servings without any movement. Maybe the Liquid Lok had nothing to do with it, but it also didn't degrade the string in any manner.