[ARC5] vintage headphone cords?

Sat Aug 27 15:08:25 EDT 2016

    You are confusing the Y cord used on most bipolar headphones with 
the type used on military headphones where the cord runs to one side and 
the other side is fed with wires through the headband.  There are 
headbands similar to the common Western Electric type with rings for 
wires so that the cord will come off on one side.  If you have this type 
you cold make a one sided cord by cutting one wire short and leaving the 
other long. The piece you cut off can be used to connect the other side. 
I have a couple of headbands like this but have never seen the original 
cords and don't know where they were used.
    Also, FWIW, there are two types of lugs used; one is small diameter, 
usually crimped on, the other is larger and soldered on. The larger size 
is standard on older headphones, the smaller one fits military phones 
although most older phones have long enough set screws to hold them. 
Some phones, like the Baldwins, took phone tips to connect inside the 
capsule. Some other phones also used pin tips often with set screws on 
the outside.
    In the early days phones were often used on either crystal sets with 
DC bias or directly in the plate circuit of a tube amplifier. It was 
important that the cord and phones be well insulated and that the 
polarity be right to avoid demagnetizing the phones.

On 8/27/2016 11:36 AM, John Hutchins wrote:
> I believe the split is of no consequence since the wire going between
> headphones is in the headband.  There is a long end and short end at the
> headphone end, HS-33 for example. the Y split was on the headphone band,
> so you would not choke the operator if you had to bail same for tankers.
>
> =Hutch
>
>
> On 8/27/2016 12:34 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>>    I can think of a way to make a Y cord using new wire but it
>> requires being able to remove a wire from the cloth covering and
>> inserting it in another section of cloth covering. I think this is
>> possible but have not tried it. Nearly all double phones have the two
>> phones in series (an exception is the Brush crystal phone where the
>> two are in parallel), they split the wire so one end goes to each
>> phone and use a third wire to go from one phone to the other.
>>
>> On 8/26/2016 11:44 PM, hwhall at compuserve.com wrote:
>>> Yes, the complication in making replicas of the original cords is that
>>> there was a Y split partway between the pins end and the phones end to
>>> make separate leads to each earpiece, along with a lead in the Y that
>>> ran from one earpiece to the other (IOW the cans are in series). There's
>>> another split in the leads right before each earpiece so that separate
>>> wires enter each can. All of the wires seem to have a single piece woven
>>> outer covering.
>>>
>>> I think I saw a place that had some repro cloth covered tinsel wire for
>>> antique speaker leads. And last year I found a place that does custom
>>> cloth weaving for vintage repro wiring harnesses. It might be expensive
>>> but the two resources together might be able to result in a repro
>>> headset cable. Maybe....
>>>
>>> Wayne
>>> WB4OGM
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Richard Knoppow <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
>>> To: arc5 <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
>>> Sent: Fri, Aug 26, 2016 11:44 pm
>>> Subject: Re: [ARC5] vintage headphone cords?
>>>
>>> It seems to me that I did see one of those sites with the wire on
>>> it. Making a Y cord can probably be done with it but I am not sure of
>>> the best way to connect the outer covering at the joint. The cords I
>>> have all look like the outer cord cover was woven in one piece.
>>>
>>> On 8/26/2016 10:18 PM, Lee wrote:
>>>> Check out some supply houses supporting old telephone collectors. (Old
>>>> farm house type telephones used this type cord.) They may have
>>>> something you can use.
>>>> Lee, w0vt
>>>>>> Is there someplace that makes the old cloth-covered tinsel-wire
>>>>>> vintage
>>>>>> headphone cords? The kind that used to be found on Brandes, Trimm,
>>>>>> etc.
>>>>>> from the 1920s or 1930s or so? Google hasn't been my friend. I
>>>>>> have some
>>>>>> 1920s era sets whose cords are pretty far gone.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wayne
>>>>>> WB4OGM
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> __
>>>>
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>>>
>>> --
>>> Richard Knoppow
>>> 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com <mailto:1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
>>> WB6KBL
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-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL