martin carthy is an interesting guitarist (and wonderful singer of traditional english song) who uses some way out open tunings. i saw him play many times around northern england and he recommends using heavy gauged string if you are going to tune into very low tunings like C and A. if you use light gauge strings, picking can wind up sounding like spaghetti. i know open tunings are useful and they definitely provide new inspiration and all, but i heard you had to be stoned to really appreciate them. is that true?