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The compact, snug body outline

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This all-mahogany design has its closest relatives in PRS's original all-mahogany Standard and the flat-top all-mahogany SE Standard. In fact, the Mira sits between the two: instead of the well-known complex carved top of the USA Standard, here the flat-top body is carved away from the base to the upper tip of the bass-side horn.

Typically guitars like the Gibson SG use a flat-cut chamfer to achieve a similar relief: here, that relief is subtly dished. There's a standard ribcage cut on the back and a tight radius to the top edge that's larger and more vintage on the rear.

The body is 7mm thinner than the USA Standard at 42mm, and from the playing position, with all the carving, it looks thinner still. "It allows us to use thinner wood and there's a certain sound you get out of it," says Joe Knaggs (head of PRS's R&D and Private Stock programme) who created the body design from an enlarged and altered PRS Santana outline.

The neck is altogether more familiar. In fact it's the exact same neck (wide-thin as reviewed here, or regular profile as an optional ), with the same moon inlays, fretwire and rolled fingerboard edge as you'd find on a 24-fret Custom or Standard. The impression, however, despite the same 25-inch scale, is that the neck is longer, created by the shorter bass-side horn and the fact the neck leaves the body on the bass-side at the 23rd fret, not the 22nd.

On a strap, the feel - by design - is noticeably different. It's slightly neck heavy although the guitar is perfectly manageable with a light weight of 7.5lbs, so it's really not a problem. Cleverly, Knaggs has created a very SG-like feel as well as a guitar that is easier, and therefore less expensive, to produce.

While both the 24-fret Standards (Satin and High Gloss) are offered only with PRS's vibrato, the Mira is a stop-tail-only model (the body is too thin to accept the vibrato unless it is modified). Whereas you might expect more vintage-style Kluson-alike tuners, PRS's excellent locking tuners are employed here, but feature new brass posts, one of many minor sound-led tweaks that PRS is bringing to its guitars.

The Mira is the only PRS guitar currently offered with its controls mounted on a scratchplate - here an attractive retro design made from black/white/black plastic laminate. The same material is used for the Mira-engraved truss rod cover - while the Mira humbuckers are mounted conventionally in black rings.

Volume and tone controls use the new 'lampshade' knobs, while the three-way lever (as used on the Johnny Hiland model) replaces the more common three-way toggle. Instead of using a pull/push switch on the tone control to split the humbuckers to single-coil we have a mini-toggle.

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