Body Cords

[FoilMaster]

What company makes good bayonet body cords. I'm not looking for real expensive ones, but I'd like one that wouldnt fall apart after a few uses. Which are the ones to get and which are ones to avoid?

[MikeHarm]

Allstar and Leon Paul are good.

Mike

[foodle]

Uhlmann/Allstar are good, but sort of pricey ($30). Leon Paul seems to be more more reasonable in price ($20 from Triplette) and of decent quality. I've heard good things about PBT, but never used any of their stuff personally. They go for about $20 also.

After switching out the foil-end of a few of my old body cords, I've been wondering if I could save some money by making them myself. The cord itself is usually 16 or 18-gauge speaker wire. The lame clip is pretty easy to find. So it's just the weapon-end and reel-end that I need to get. Cheaper than buying an Allstar/Uhlmann one in any case. Anyone make their own body cords?

[neevel]

Leon Paul is the original designer of the British-style bayonet connector, and the foil plug is actually designed to work with the flexible 22-guage wire that Leon Paul uses. Allstar/Uhlmann manufacture an exact copy of the plug. Both are of much better quality than East-Euro or Chinese copies of the plug (which should be avoided). I like the German 3-pin plugs better than the Leon-Paul 3-pin plugs. You can also get body cords from Blue Gauntlet that use an Uhlmann bayo plug and their new 'easy-fix' 3-pin plug (which is similar to the Uhlmann plug but lets you tighten up the contact screws without having to disassemble it) for $20.

I put together almost all the body cords for my club-- good quality 20-gauge speaker wire will be better than the wire that Uhlmann or Leon Paul use (Uhlmann's wire is a bit brittle, and the fine-stranded Leon Paul wire is somewhat weak and corrodes more rapidly). Just remember that you need to use solder on the crocodile clip in addition to the screw connection.

Make sure you get Leon Paul or Uhlmann/Allstar foil sockets, too-- knockoff copies are also more troubleprone. Even good bayo sockets will wear out eventually-- there are a pair of nibs at the top of the plastic body that hold the plug in place. When they get worn down, the plug will be able to twist loose and pop out.

-Dave

[Amie]

Slightly off-topic, re: german body cords and prieur sockets on foil -

Since the german body cords have the retainer clip on the cord, if I pop the plastic retainer clip off could I use the german cord with my foils which have french sockets?

amie

[rjccj]

Yes, it will work Amie.