I have one old acoustic (not a reso) that stays in open C and I occassionally take the time to tune a 12 to it. The trick that I learned on the sixer is a mixed set - lights on top and mediums on the bottom.
As far as dobro G , the bottom two strings are tuned up, everything else goes down. This works really well on a squareneck spider bridge - you have both a stronger neck and the strength of the spider. However I tune my roundneck spider that way with plain old mediums (a 15 on top). I'm less worried about the neck than I would be your biscuit - unless you have a very low break angle I would hesitate tuning up with very heavy strings (I know Scott Ainsley and others tune their biscuits up to open A, but when I asked him about it he said he likes a very shallow break angle)
I've been using Elixer nano PB's on both mine - I personally like the PB sound and since I change the reso strings every six months or when the crud gets too thick on them....
Last comment, I just dropped a new NRP cone and carbon fiber biscuit in my Duolian - what an incredible difference. I took some A/B clips but haven't had a chance to post them - but a highly recommended upgrade.
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