I put new strings on my balalaika (2 nylon Es (1st classical guitar string), 1 steel A (.08 electric guitar string). It's no longer a balalasitar. ;_; I initially had some extreme intonation problems due to the nut slots being too shallow for the nylon strings (they weren't reaching the 0 fret). I sawed the nut a little bit it and it's alright now.
BTW it was designed for loop end strings but ball ends work just as fine. xD