PRS S2 Mira 594 Satin

An old friend returns to the PRS USA S2 lineup 18 years after it was first introduced - and the price is right

- BY DAVE BURRLUCK

MOST OF US think of PRS guitars and see the beautifully opulent-looking flamed maple-topped masterpieces the Maryland-based company built its 40-year-old reputation on. We also don't need to tell you that plenty of those guitars cost a pretty penny. Nevertheless, there have been plenty of attempts to produce more stripped-down and affordable U.S.-built options, and the original Mira, which joined the now-called Core lineup in 2008, is a prime example.

The all-mahogany 24-fret guitar featured a thinner body with SG-like chamfering, the outline redrawn from the PRS Santana, which itself isn't a million miles away from Gibson's double-cutaway Les Paul Junior, Special and TV models from the late Fifties. It also formed the basis of the USA S2 line back in 2013, then dropped into the SE ranks before being discontinued by 2023. Now, it has returned.

While you can't see any wood under the opaque satin open-pore — or “sinky” as PRS call it — finish, like the Core models, the Mira uses a one-piece mahogany body but with a thinner depth of around 43mm.