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Comments
Looks like Ibanez ship the AF57 with 10-52 gauge strings.
I would certainly not hesitate moving to a set of 11s (at least).
If you've got a wound third string at the moment, getting rid of that might feel nicer.
You can also think about trying Eb standard tuning.
Whatever you go for, you'll have a bit of setup work to sort out but nothing too scary.
I made a little reference chart using an online string tension calc
[ https://www.evertune.com/resources/string_tension_gauge_calculator.php ]
to give me an idea of where certain changes would get me.
For example, the top-E string on your Gibson scale AF75 (tension in pounds):
Archtops' as an overview are 'historically' designed to work with heavier strings - Yet most of us will find 12's a bitch to play after using 9's, or even 10's, on a Strat based guitar - As you say, age and arthritis are no longer your friends - There is probably not a definitive answer as you need to play and feel and adjust accordingly
My first advice is try 11-49 with a plain 3rd - If this is great then so be it - You could try tuning it to Eb as well, just as an experiment, to give you a kind of guide line as to what it might feel like with 10's - ie 11's at Eb will have a similar tension to 10's at E - hope that makes sense
If you go to 10's then IMO try 10-52 so you have a bit more 'meat' on the lower wound strings, that will favour such a guitar
Bottom line is to have fun playing it and if 11's or even 10's are to stiff, then don't be worried about going to 9's - No one will tell you off