I have a Stradolin that has wonderful tone. I also have another mandolin whose weak bass I don't care for, so I am using it to experiment with alternative strings and tunings.

I have recently become aware that Yank Rachell tuned his mandolin unconventionally and I'd like to try his approach. I understand that he sometimes tuned his mandolin down to E, using heavy gauge strings so they didn't get too floppy with the lower tuning. I also understand that he tuned the bottom courses in octaves.

What strings (gauges) would work for this tuning? What gauges for the octave gauges?