I'm beginning to figure this thing out after being completely intimidated by it. It's tuned to A6 tuning now. Once I realized I can use dobro "Open G" licks on strings 1-3 and 4-6 (transposed up to A), and lapsteel "country/hawaiian C6" licks on strings 2-7 (transposed down to A6), I can actually make this thing make noise.
I do plan to tune it down to G6 though, I think an open G major and open Em/Em7 is more useful to me (and easier on my mental math) than an open A with an open F#m/F#m7