I left the Redding Western Classic Trail Shoot with a new pair of Nealy Custom Bowstrings, from Klamath Falls, Oregon. I had been in contact with Tom since earlier this Spring. The stock strings on my Martin Warthog, while servicable, will now serve as my backup set in case of emergency.
I didn’t make the decision lightly. I have shot other custom strings with good results but I kept seeing a number of pro’s at archery shoots who shot the Nealy strings. One of those is my good buddy Dave Bengston. Dave is a Hoyt sponsored shooter in the Senior Men’s Pro Division. He has been shooting Nealy strings as long as I have known him, and they get a workout at shoots nearly every weekend in the spring and summer. Dave told me about how the Nealy strings are pre-stretched and had no creep.
Resistance to creep is important in a compound bow string. If a cable creeps (stretches and elongates permanently) it changes the way the cams rotate. If the cams aren’t rotating in sych, then energy and speed are lost, and accuracy can suffer due to difficulty holding at full draw, and erratic arrow flight.
So I called Tom Nealy at his shop, and chatted with him about my bow and that I hunted hard and did some tournament shooting with my bow. I was frank with him that I needed a tough string that would hold up to a weekend of shooting in the rain as well as a week or two on a backcountry bowhunt with little care.
He assured me he could fit the bill, and asked about the string dimensions. I gave him the length of each of the cables and the shooting string, along with the length of each section of serving. He even asked which nocks I used on my arrows so he could apply the right kind of serving material for perfect nock fit. The Nealy Strings are made with BCY 452X material. It is completely stable , and has no creep.
I was impressed at the personal service I received from Tom. It turns out that he and his son Thomas make every string to order rather than having stock on hand. That means if you want fluorescent orange and yellow strings (like my buddy Dave), they will make ‘em. You can see the array of colors in this link to the BCY color chart.
I got a set of nice grey and green strings that won’t attract too much attention in the mountains or from a fellow shooters. I changed out the strings myself by loosening my limb bolts 7 turns each and pressing the limbs with my Bowmaster portable bowpress.
It was pretty simple actually. I took measurements of my D-loop height, distance to my peep, brace height and axle to axle distance. Then I replaced each cable , one at a time, and finally the bowstring. The served end loops fit just right over the posts on the cams, and was a great upgrade from my stock strings.
With cables twisted to the proper length, peep and d-loop installed I took the Warthog to the Wednesday night 3d league. After 3 sighter arrows in the warm up bales, I was dialed in and shot the 14 target, 42 arrow round with a brand new string.
The string performed flawlessly. My peep came back straight, my draw length never changed, and the arrows went where I aimed ‘em. I can say I am pleased with the Nealy Strings and I would recommend them to all my fellow archers and bowhunters. While they may not have the flashy ad campaign that some other companies may have, the personal attention and craftsmanship of both Thomas Nealys has created a great product that professional archers and recreational shooters can rely upon.
You can order your Nealy Custom String directly from the source :
Tom Nealy
4570 Summers Lane
Klamath Falls, OR 97603
541-884-1536
