Catfish Customs or Wicked Twisted are a couple I have experience with, but there are other custom string builders on here that are trusted (A3 Archery, Archery Shack, Vapor Trail, Twisted X, etc).

 

Aside from custom makers, are companies like Zebra or First String not industry standard or preferable any longer?

What is the advantage of custom string makers now?

Just trying to get a feel for the market so to speak

 

The main problem from the main stream makers, at this point, is the delays in production time. There are more issues, with regard to reliability, but that can be subjective. Do a quick search on AT and you'll see some discussion threads about complaints. I don't have any experience with the mainstream brands, so I cannot comment on their quality, but I do know about their delays (who doesn't know about covid delays, these days?). As far as pricing, it seems that custom builders are comparable, however, your local shop will charge a nominal fee for a string change. Where are you located? There may be a helpful AT member that would lend a hand and tools in a string swap and tune.

 

Thanks BazookaJoe, much appreciated

I'm in the DFW/N Texas area so there are a few places to have the string installed because I do not have a press

 

Catfish Customs is out of Michigan, so that wouldn't be too long of a wait for shipping. Like stxArcher said, Mike at Catfish is typically 1 week for order placement to delivery.

As a side note, consider looking through or posting in the Archers Helping Archers board, to see if anyone is nearby, who would be willing to help.

 

I have used catfish customs for my last 2 sets and have really liked them. Ordered a full string/cable set about a month ago and had them in a week.

 

Thank you sir.

I assume most of these custom builders are on this forum?

 

If you have any questions, Mike is usually very quick to reply if you use his email or the "Contact Us" page on his website.

Contact Us

www.catfishcustombowstrings.com

 

I vote A3 Archery all day long. Brent (owner and builder) is very welcoming to answering any questions and has a keen eye for detail. What I like about the custom smaller companies is that they typically have better prices because they don't have all the overhead and marketing costs that the bigger companies do and my favorite aspect is that the same single person usually builds the string from start to finish and it doesn't change hands during the build process, it keeps things consistent across the board. and like it has been said, the shipping times are usually much faster than the big companies.

I have had three sets of a3 strings, never had an issue with cam timing, peep rotation, or anything like that. You can use the discount code Bolick15 to save 15%, it sweetens the deal that much more.

let me know if you have any questions

 

Much appreciated stxArcher and all. Good information. Lead times are an obstacle for certain.

 

Another vote for Catfish Customs. I got a set my Drenalin and they are great. I don't know how close you are to Cinnamon Creek Archery but I hear great things about them. I'm in SE Texas and used West Houston Archery to put my set on.