There are no "best" strings for a particular guitar. You have to consider what you play, how you play, and what you need the guitar to do. A bluegrass rhythm player and a Fahey type fingerstyle player might both use a D-35 but they would probably differ as to what strings are best. Not for nothing are there hundreds of variations in strings.

I've tried various string brands and I think it depends on the guitar and on your ears. I tend to prefer Martin M540 pb's on my Martin. They produce the kind of brightness and punch that says "Martin sound" to me. Daddarios are a tad too mellow for my taste on my Martin, however I like them on my Blues 32. IMHO

No doubt for me: Martins love 80/20 brass strings and hate coated.
And, after so many brands and trials, I finally went fully convinced to the Galli Rainbow 80/20: they sound like a piano and save the "Martin sound", are very equlibrated and stay precisely tuned, what else do you need?

elixirs pb actually works quite well with my rw bodied one.

Here's another vote for buy and try. Light, medium light, medium. D'Addario, Martin, and others.

The Martin light acoustic strings that came on my OM28V sound great. I tried Pyramid Western Folk strings taking the advice from Landru. The first day I wasn't reall impressed however the second day all of a sudden to my ear they sounded great. With all the changings of tunings I do they wear out quickly though. I have a set of Thomastik-Infeld Spectrums I will be putting on next. Again on the advice from Landru.

On my 30+ year old Sigma (a MIJ of US parts D-35) I prefer the tone of PB SP's (MSP4150)

Personally I don't think elixir's are a great match for anything. I have two Martins, A D 18 and an 000-18. I have been using Gibson Masterbuilt Premiums. They have a softer feel and richer bass than the Marquis or the Elixirs. Only ever used Elixirs once on a Martin. I took them off the same day. They literally gave me a headache from the piercing highs. In a nutshell, I thought they were garbage.

honestly, the strings i really like on my martin are the coated martin sp's. however, i use either DR rares(because they ssound just as good, but dont last as long.) or elixirs(because they last long, but dont as as good imo.) do to the fact that they are made in the USA.

now i dont have a problem with anyone using strings made by cheap labor countries,( i have chinese made guitar.) but i try to best keep my strings(or anything else for that matter.) made in usa as long as i can afford to do so; foreign countries that offer "fair" competition are an exception to this rule.

again, i mean all this in moderation, and based on if i can afford it; i have no american made shoes because i havent found any below 75 dollars that arent just plain ugly.(new balance isn't really american made anymore.)

I use and like Martin SP but I also like another brand that no one has mentioned here probably because they are as old as I am and not a lot of people know of them or remember them, but their quality is way up with Martin, DR's and they are not as expensive, I am referring to Picato strings and the set I use is 660 80/20 Bronze 12-54, extremely booming on my Martin OM-42 and despite not being coated they last quite longer than average, however I am some who does not sweat at all and my string last me long as it is, I just wipe the dust off them every now and then.

....... I WISH!

Well they MIGHT have been 5 yrs. ago when he posted that! :lol: