to facilitate the attachment of light string assembly 10 to suitable mountings the cylindrical body 17 of lamp socket 12 contains a side electrode 24 therein the structure of which is best seen with reference to fig5 side electrode 24 is planar and may be conveniently struck from sheet brass or the like and comprises a pair of diametrically opposed upstanding arms 25 interconnected at their lower ends by a cross member 26 a stab connector 27 extends downwardly from cross member 26 the inwardly facing edges of arms 25 are generally parallel and vertically aligned and are each provided intermediate their ends with a single protuberance 28 located as will be described subsequently the interior wall 30 of body 17 is provided with a helical thread 32 which projects inwardly from the wall at a pitch angle 34 a 34 which is that of the thread of the screw cap c of an electrical lamp l to be retained in the socket each 360 u00b0 turn of thread 32 comprises four segments 34 symmetrically located on interior wall 30 the significance of this arrangement is discussed subsequently a central electrode 36 locates in the bottom of socket 12 for further details of the general construction of socket 12 including the integration of electrodes 24 or 36 therein and its molding onto electrical conductors 14 reference may be had to u s pat nos 3 597 725 and 3 900 278 to beck et al commonly assigned herewith which patents are incorporated herein by reference thereto when molded the inwardly facing edge of each arm 25 of side electrode 24 will be generally flush with the interior.