Bard/Equipment Guide

This guide has been made in order to give you a list of viable equipment available to a Bard from level 1 to level 75. It is not intended to be a complete list of every piece of equipment available to a Bard. All items of gear that have been listed in this guide are my own personal recommendation of the gear that a Bard should use for various situations. I can not guarantee I will include every possible item, and may miss out on a better piece of equipment for a certain situation.
Important gear to note for Bard would be any equipment that enhances the stats necessary to effectively perform your role in a party/engame situation.
It is my belief that a Bard's major role within the game, in most situations, primarily in a party situation, would be to Enfeeble the target monster, and buff various members of the party using the songs that they are given. An important thing to do as a Bard would be to make macros which include equipment swaps in order to utilise the various benefits needed for each situation. One example being the use of the various song enhancements that the range of instruments give you.
=Instruments=
The two types of instrument that a bard is able to use are the stringed instruments (or Harps) and wind instruments. String instruments are less popular due to their limited selection and wide difference in AoE range. An example harp is the lvl 1 Maple Harp +1 - This harp gives a +1 enhancement to Minne songs. Wind Instruments tend to be more popular than String due to their consistent AOE size, there are also more wind than string instruments. An example wind instrument is the lvl 1 Flute +1 - This flute gives a +1 enhancement to Requiem songs.
==String Instruments==
lvl 1 Maple Harp
lvl 1 Maple Harp +1 - Minne +1
lvl 14 Harp - Minne +1
lvl 14 Harp +1 - Minne +2
lvl 33 Military Harp - Finale +2
lvl 36 Rose Harp - Etude +1
lvl 36 Rose Harp +1 - Etude +2
lvl 44 Lamia Harp
lvl 60 Ebony Harp - Paeon +1
lvl 60 Ebony Harp +1 - Paeon +2
lvl 60 Ebony Harp +2 - Accuracy +1, Paeon +2
lvl 60 Nursemaid's Harp - Lullaby +2
lvl 70 Mythic Harp - +15, Etude +1
lvl 70 Mythic Harp +1 - +20, Etude +2
lvl 70 Sorrowful Harp - Threnody +3
lvl 71 Angel Lyre - Hymnus +2, Haste +2%
lvl 75 Cythara Anglica - Charisma +2, +5, Virelai +1
lvl 75 Cythara Anglica +1 - Charisma +3, +6, Virelai +2
==Wind Instruments==
lvl 1 Flute
lvl 1 Flute +1 - Requiem +1
lvl 1 Flute +2 - HP +5, Requiem +1
lvl 4 Cornette - Minuet +1
lvl 4 Cornette +1 - Minuet +2
lvl 4 Cornette +2 - Agility +1, Minuet +2
lvl 9 Piccolo - Threnody +1
lvl 9 Piccolo +1 - Threnody +2
lvl 14 Mary's Horn - Lullaby +1
lvl 19 Gemshorn - Mambo +1
lvl 19 Gemshorn +1 - Mambo +2
lvl 20 Royal Spearman's Horn - Charisma +3, March +1
lvl 23 Siren Flute - Requiem +2
lvl 25 Kingdom Horn - HP +4, MP +4, Charisma +3, March +1
lvl 25 San d'Orian Horn - HP +3, MP +3, Charisma +3, March +1
lvl 32 Traversiere - Madrigal +1
lvl 32 Traversiere +1 - Madrigal +2
lvl 32 Traversiere +2 - MP +10, Madrigal +2
lvl 36 Faerie Piccolo - March +2
lvl 40 Horn - Elegy +1
lvl 40 Horn +1 - Elegy +2
lvl 40 Oliphant - Accuracy +3, Attack +3, Outside of Nation Controlled Area: Wind Instrument Skill +3
lvl 48 Angel's Flute - Prelude +1
lvl 48 Angel Flute +1 - Prelude +2
lvl 50 Storm Fife - Assault: Ballad +1
lvl 56 Crumhorn - Carol +1
lvl 56 Crumhorn +1 - Carol +2
lvl 56 Crumhorn +2 - Intelligence +1, Carol +2
lvl 58 Hamelin Flute - Charisma +2, Evasion +3, Requiem +2
lvl 60 Iron Ram Horn - Charisma +4, March +2
lvl 66 Frenzy Fife - Strength +2, Intelligence -4, Charisma -4, Latent Effect: Strength +4
lvl 68 Hellish Bugle - Attack +3, Evasion +3, Mambo +1
lvl 68 Hellish Bugle +1 - Attack +4, Evasion +4, Mambo +2
lvl 68 Shofar - HP +15, Requiem +2
lvl 68 Shofar +1 - HP +20, Requiem +3
lvl 70 Harlequin's Horn - Mazurka +2
lvl 72 Requiem Flute - Requiem +4
lvl 75 Relic Horn 
lvl 75 Pyrrhic Horn - Dynamis: CHR +1, +7
lvl 75 Dynamis Horn - Dynamis: CHR +2, +9
lvl 75 Millennium Horn - Dynamis: CHR +3, All Songs +2
lvl 75 Gjallarhorn - Charisma +4, All Songs +2, Singing Skill +10, Wind Instrument Skill +10
=Armor=
The primary role of any bard is to enhance the party and enfeeble the target monster using the range of a bard's songs. In order to do this to the highest level of effectiveness you are going to want to look for equipment that either enhances instrument skill, for example: lvl 60 Choral Cuffs which enhance your Singing Skill by +5 and also have a CHR boost of +4, or that give you a CHR stat increase, for example: lvl 14 Noble's Ribbon: CHR+3.