I'm not entirely sure, the last changes to Aura's / FT and attack was meant to effect those below recommended levels gaining all of the worn effects. So if you were a level 1 using Solstice earring you weren't meant to get the FT bonus. Maybe it was meant to change the modifier for instruments as well if you are below the rec level on the instrument.

I'm not 100% sure on that but it would be consistent, not definite though.

This can be confusing, no doubt. So allow me to make it easy to understand.

We will use the TDoK [ http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=18010 ] for this.

In Alla's you will see off to the side a modifier listed as +180%. In EQ you'll see it say 28. It is the same thing, if you look at it properly.

A mod of +180 is a total of 280% of base. Base is always 100% anything above that is a +%.

As an example let's use the song Tuyen's Chant of flame as a lvl 38 bard. The base, unmodified damage of the song is (at lvl 38) is 20hp damage per tick. That is 100% of it's unmodified damage. Now we throw in the TDoK with a modifier of 28 or +180% or 280. Multiply 20 (the base damage) by 280% and you get 56hp damage per tick. Multiply 20 by 2.8 (which is how the instrument mod should be shown, but isn't) and you get the same thing. Add 180% of 20 to 20 and again you get the same thing.

Confusing yes. Just remember the +% modifier shown for each instrument here on Alla's is the modifier, not the full mod on top of the base. What you see in the game is the right modifier if you put a decimal between the first and second digit.

Hope this helps.