Thanks Scottdaros, This echoes my thought process completley! It seems almost too risky to use ball and socket joints in case the tension decreases and thus renders the puppet unusable. I will probably opt for wire armatures as i have been doing. Whilst I'm on the subject it seems to me that twisting ali wire.... eg two strands that twist round each other, can cause problems due to the two strands touching each other and creating cuts, notches etc that then then leads to a more brittle joint that breaks easier. What I thinking of doing is using multiple strands of ali wire with some kind of coating to prevent contact of the bare wire, i saw some puppet armatures that were doing just this but using some kind of thread that completley encased the wire. It seems like a logical step to take but if anyone has any opinions then please let me know.
I will up some photos of what i am working on at some point so hopefully that will help illustrate pros/cons of different armature types