Here's my take on self-tensioning guy lines. Shock cord cored Zing-It. These should be as strong as the Brummel eye and have no knots or loops to get snagged.
Attachment 96713
Tools and parts: 12" 14ga copper wire fid for opening the rope, large needle for picking strands out for the taper and passing the line through itself, 6" 24ga wire fid for burying line. 4" piece of 1/8" shock cord, 6' piece of Zing-It.
Attachment 96714
Milk the cover of the shock cord by holding one end and stretching out the shock cord sliding your fingers from where you're holding it to the free end. 3 or 4 times should yeild 3/8"-1/2" of cover past the loose end. The Zing-It gets a Brummel eye splice on one end (4", big enough to pass the hank of line through) and a back splice on the other end. There are plenty of good descriptions of these splices here and on other sites.
Attachment 96716
Open 12" of the line past the eye’s bury and pull the wire fid through the line. Thread the cover of the shock cord through the wire fid up to the elastic core and fold it back over the shock cord.
Attachment 96717
Milk the Zing-It onto the shock cord by pushing it off the fid onto the shock cord. Be careful not to pull directly on the shock cord or it will stretch and slide right off the fid. Once the loosened end of the shock cord is inside the Zing-It, continue burying it by pushing the Zing-It to the shock cord then pinching the Zing-It and stretching the shock cord inside. Let go and start again when you get to the point where the shock cord enters the Zing-It. Continue milking the shock cord into the Zing-It this way until it's completely inside. Milk the remainder of the 12" section of Zing-It onto the shock cord core, remove the wire fid, and trim the shock cord's cover if necessary. Smooth the Zing-It over the ends of the shock cord core.
Attachment 96718
12" of Zing-It will cover 4" of shock cord and stretch to 8".
Attachment 96719
Thanks for looking.
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