I have an old 70's 12-string Yamaha FG-230 that I don't use much and am looking for a Cittern... so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I'm not much at lutherie so I took the minimalistic CHEAP approach - leave the nut and the saddle alone...
1. I removed the G pair.
2. I slackened the remaining strings and moved the D pair to the G bridge holes, The A pair to the D bridge holes, and the E (bass) pair to the A bridge holes (the strings remained on their pegs ( 2E's, 2A's, 2D's, no G's, 2B's and 2E's) - 10 strings. All the strings except the D pair tuned down thus relieving tension, and the G pair removed - even less tension - probably will allow me to switch the octave strings to pairs and put on heavier bass strings...
3. I retuned them to cC, gG, dD, AA, EE - but settled on dD, gG, dD, AA DD
So at no cost, and very little labor, I have a Cittern (with octave bass strings). Certainly good enough to play and decide if I REALLY want a Cittern...
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