For reference here is the 1964 KS page from catalog

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Just what I needed - facts to confuse me.  I do know that you could buy the '64 without the built-in sight window.
Unless I am imagining it, the grip on the '63 is a little higher than the '64.  Mine looks more like the '64.  Also, the bubinga wood on the '63 doesn't seem to have as much grain as the African bengal wood on the '64, which looks more like mine.
Now I'm thinking I have a '64, which is a good thought as I KNOW my "plain old" Kodiak is a '64.
1964 was a good year as I was a senior in high school and would have loved to have had both of these bows, but I could not afford either of them.
Today, I still can't afford them but I own them both.
Better late than never.
Bill

Bryce, to answer your question, "...what did you learn...?":
I have learned it can be danged hard to tell a '63 from a '64 Kodiak Special.
Bill