stromberg-voisinet parlor, strings and pickguards

[menhir]

After years of delay for this reason and that, mixed in with a serious amount of procrastination, I'm finally getting my Stromberg-Voisinet parlor ready to play.

The deep-C clamp is arriving from Amazon tomorrow and I expect to have the bridge re-attached within a few days.

Question: Does anyone have any string recommendations? I'm perfectly happy throwing on a set of D'Addario Phosphor Bronze lights that I use on my other guitar, but if anyone feels that something else might better suit this instrument, let me know. (I'm the 2nd owner - I believe it always had steel strings, but I'm not 100% sure about that.)

Other question: If everything turns out well, the next step would be replacing the long-gone pickguard. I can easily trace out the shape of the original, but I'm looking for suggestions on how to go about getting a new one made.

As always, any help is appreciated.