String gauges for an itty bitty little tenor
I came into an old Fairbanks/Vega Style M (Tu-Ba-Phone) tenor. The serial number and headstock inlay places it around 1921-1923 but I haven't nailed down its birthday yet (https://www.deeringbanjos.com/en-ca/pages/vega-banjo-serial-numbers suggests it's 1921). The serial numbers are also in kinda rough shape so it makes me raise an eyebrow.
It's 17 frets of goodness, and if I've measured the scale length correctly, this puppy is small - 19 3/4 inches (I measured 9 7/8 inches from the inside of the nut to the 12th fret) and then it's pretty close to 20 inches where I have the bridge right now trying to get this thing in tune. Usually I'm seeing these things at around 21 inch scale length so I'm a little surprised to see my little guy come up so short. I found out that other 17 fret short scales (like the Gold Tone IT-250 https://goldtonemusicgroup.com/goldtone/instruments/it-250) come in at 19 3/4 inches so maybe it's not so weird?
Anyway. Oddities aside, I want to put new strings on this thing. It's in GDAE (Irish) tuning. Any consderations for what gauges I should put on one this short? I'm considering the D'Addario EJ63i (12/16/24/36) but I'm open to recommendations. Thanks!