List, I know, from my recent post, there are a minority of players on this list who either own heavier non-historical instruments or own and actually play them. I am in the latter group, with a 1977 Papazian. I have tried a variety of strings, and its the trebles that seem the toughest to get right. Too thick and they may snap, or be just impossible to tune (I'd be better with geared rollers I know), too thin and the instrument sounds thin and reedy. I suspect if I were to tune this beast in F it would solve a lot of problems, but am doing ensemble work mostly. That said, I have been discovering that low tension guitar strings work fine for the basses. E.g., a 4th string will serve as a 5th course nicely. I am going to try the same pattern: a 5th guitar string for the sixth course, and a sixth for the 7th and 8th fundamentals.A Currently I am using a KF 74 for the fourth which is surprisingly very good. I tried a guitar string 3rd, Carbon Fiber for the fifth course but it was awfully wimpy sounding. I was wondering if anyone else had ideas on this or has actually tried guitar strings as well and what the results were. I know the lutes vary widely, mine is 64 cm and I am keeping it tuned in G. Thanks. Charles
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