Thank you very much for the info, Stower. I'll get strings of 20 and 12 and give them a try. That's interesting to hear, that a mere thousandth can make a difference.

As for DAA tuning, DAA is a real joy to play. My dulcimers have a 6.5 fret, and I can play in the key of D and the key of A. I can also tune DAG, and that gives me songs in the minor, I think Em and Am.

The beauty of DAA is that the chords are so simple. Most of the time, you put a finger on the D string, one fret behind the melody note, and you've got a nice chord. It is a very simple and natural system.

If you are playing in the key of A, a finger on the first fret of the D string produces an open A chord for the root.