RJS –
Since no one else has responded yet, I’ll take a stab – I’m afraid it’s not really possible to answer your question in any simple way.
There are so MANY excellent bowyers out there producing what would be considered “top of the line” bows that I could easily come up with a list of 50 producers of “top of the line” recurves without even really thinking about it. Whittling down that list in any useful way for you would require that you shoot all of those bows.
The problem of listing the “best bows” on the market is the unavoidable number of personal and subjective factors involved in defining what a “best” or “top of the line” bow actually is. One of the realities about getting into traditional archery is that you simply have to try a lot of bows out to find what you like/want, from which to come up with your own definition of “best.”
I’ve shot really well-made, “top of the line” bows that didn’t work for me at all, due to grip shape, amount of hand shock, overall weight, and/or a host of other factors. Other people obviously love these particular bows, however, because they are widely well-regarded.
So, for example, I could tell you that I think the Robertson Fatal Styk is one of the “best” bows on the market, but what does that really mean? Sure, it is a well-made bow by a really well-regarded bowyer, but beyond that it only means that I like the way that bow shoots based on my preferences, which may not be yours at all.
I’m guessing that’s probably not all that helpful, but I’m just trying to be honest. Notwithstanding, here are some excellent bowyers to get you started in your quest, though by no means is this the least bit comprehensive:
Predator
Robertson
Wapiti
Black Widow
Stalker
Foley
Sasquatch
Wes Wallace
Bob Lee
Fox
Acadian Woods
Shafer
and I’m sure others here would add many more to that initial list…
