Old birds this way incometh

John Beef

Opaque
Joined
Apr 27, 2012
Messages
3,490
Location
Arizona USA
Ye Olde birds this way incometh

I've been a big proponent of the old moon inlays for a long time. For me, I prefer a guitar that has a solid finish, or something transparent over unfigured mahogany, etc. No fancy flames or other eye candy. I like guitars to be understated in their beauty. However, this time, I went old birds simply for the sake of the rarity of this model.

I had an 08 Mira which I stupidly sold for some reason. Every USA PRS I've had and sold (all 2 of them, hahaha), I have regretted. The Mira I regretted selling prior to it even leaving my house. However, I have had several SEs, and while they've all been really great bang for the buck guitars, they lack the "je ne sais qua" of just about every USA model I've ever put my hands on. I even had two recent used SE purchases, but for some reason I found both to be lacking something... but then most guitars do when put up against the mighty 05 CU22, the continuing king of my stable.

Recently I was shopping for a 2x12, and in the shop I played a used Mira. The one I played had the pastel lilac finish which I didn't care for, plus a wide-thin which is another "no". But the playability was very nice and the tone was fantastic. It convinced me I should get another Mira for sure (an my wife too, hahaha). A new one being out of my price range, and used ones coming up so rarely on the forums, I had an ebay search set up to email me daily.

This one came up at a nice price. The seller added covers to the stock pickups, otherwise it's stock. Should be delivered tomorrow after UPS has taken an exceptionally long time with it, including leaving it in a trailer in sub freezing temperatures for 36 hours due to a "local service disruption". Vintage Cherry. Regular neck. Old birds.

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That is beautiful! I like the covered pickups as well. Really enhances the look.
 
Nice! I love vintage cherry on the Mira and old birds, not something you see often.
 
Sweet! Yep, some of the Mira's and DGT's saw the last of the old/real birds. I really like the old birds on a Mira... looks good in red as well!
 
Well, it was worth the wait. The guitar is pretty fantastic. My dad happened to be over and thought it was brand new. However, it doesn't play like a brand new guitar, it plays like one that has been nicely broken in. Feels like a well worn glove or pair of shoes. It does show some wear, some pick swirls and stuff, and a small ding by the butt end strap pin, but really, it's in great shape.

The best part is, it sounds pretty incredible. I bought it thinking maybe I'd have to replace the neck pickup like I did in my other Mira. Not so with this one, the neck pickup is full, clear, throaty/woody and sounds pretty great split too. My other Mira, the neck pickup was none of those things. The bridge pickup seems to have a little bit of the top end rolled off with the cover on it compared to what I remember with the other one. But it's not muddy, if anything the sharp treble edge has been nicely polished. Long story short, it sounds better than my old Mira.

Strangely, I have completely run out of guitar strings. Not sure how that happened. It's got 9s on it now I would guess, they feel very thin to me. I need to string it up with 11s and do a full band practice for a complete evaluation.

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