Flight DUS322 Zebrawood Soprano Ukulele

Kicking off the 2025 year of ukulele reviews, I thought that whilst I regularly feature the higher end instruments from Flight, i'm actually a bit light on the more entry level offerings. To redress the balance a little this is the Flight DUS322 Soprano.

Of course, as nice as Flights newer offerings are (award winners included!) you have to remember that when they started out they were offering much simpler and therefore cheaper ukes. And there is nothing wrong with that of course as not everyone is going to start out on ukulele by dropping hundreds of pounds on a first instrument. It's therefore pleasing to see that Flight are still offering a wide range down to the much more affordable like this one. I bought this for review from a random store as a check on 'out of the box' quality.

SUMMARY VIDEO REVIEW

It was a little hard to track down which one of the many Flight 'Series' this one sits in, but it's part of their 'Designer Series' of ukes which come with either decorative designs or woods. And it's the wood that's being decorative here, made, as it is from all laminate zebrawood (zebrano) which is always striking to look at. Some years back I felt I'd had enough of zebrawood as it seemed every man and his dog was using it, but today the trend seems to have subsided a bit so it's a while since iv'e seen one. That passage of time has worked for me as I find this quite pretty to look at - which is, of course, the whole point of that uke series. It's made from two pieces on each of the top, back and sides which isn't usual for a soprano sized instrument but with stripes like this i'm glad they did. OK, the book-matching isn't quite perfect, but this isn't a high end instrument and it is effective enough and close enough. This example also isn't too heavy on the dark stripes and isn't too 'in your face' either. It's still not a wood I am totally keen on, but it's not unattractive. It's also pleasing to see a quite pronounced arch on the back to help with projection.

The bridge here is made of walnut and is a tie bar which isn't something I think is needed on a soprano with all that extra real estate so give me a slot bridge every time. It's tidy though if a little pale looking and holds, surprisingly for the price, a bone compensated top saddle. Spacing comes in at 41mm here.

Decoration is subtle and I am pleased to see they didn't adorn it with abalone. Instead, the top and back have brown wood bindings which blend with the top nicely and you get a similar wood in a ring around the sound hole. It's not ostentatious, but just 'enough'. The body is then finished in an open pore satin which appears to be tidy and not overly thick.

Inside is pretty tidy with simple standard soprano bracing, notched linings and a tail block. There's a bit of glue seepage, but not a lot. A word on that though - I put a camera inside a uke to mainly look at bracing patterns, linings, whether EQ cables are tied down and the like. I do mention mess if it is there, but that is not necessarily a bad thing and have seen a lot of glue inside some very high end instruments. It can be an indicator for a shoddy build in other areas, but that is not the case here even though I can see some glue! Glue can be normal and I certainly wouldn't reject an instrument because of it as it makes no odds to how it plays.

The neck is made from okoume wood in three pieces with well hidden joints, and is also satin finished. It's rather generic in dimensions though and not for my tastes with a quite rounded neck profile at the nut and skinny width of about 34.5mm and 27mm G to A. Not for me, but as ever that is a personal subjective point

The fingerboard is made of walnut and a little to pale for my tastes, but to be fair it is in great smooth condition. At this price point it's also surprising to see it's either edge bound or the frets are slotted short of the edges as there are no fret end tangs to see. Sadly though despite that they are on the edge of being sharp. I've felt much worse, but you know they are there and a touch uncomfortable. You get a very standard soprano 12 of those. Pearl position dots face out at the 5th, 7th and 10th, and they are paired with small side dots.

Beyond the bone nut is a crown shaped headstock faced in more zebrano which looks nice. I'm less of a fan of the laser etched motif which I am not sure is necessary and looks a little busy against the zebra stripe. The Flight logo is also laser etched at the top.

The tuners are a disappointment not only because it is a soprano, but more generally too. Parts bin sealed gears with more weight than is necessary and a look I don't feel suits ukuleles. They work ok in the basics (they hold tune - all gears do unless they are broken), but are a little uneven in feel and grind in places. Subjectively - they are simply not what I would want to see on a soprano, but objectively these are cheap tuners!

Finishing things off is a strap button in the base (again.. on a soprano?) a set of Aquila strings and a Flight branded gig bag. Whilst this is not up there with their famous red padded bags, this is still much better quality than many I see at this sort of price point. And price wise this has an RRP of about £85 with regular discounting in some dealers at the moment to about £70 - £80 and occasionally lower. It's not absolute bargain Amazon priced stuff, but coming in below the tonne, it's not expensive in the slightest for a ukulele. Sure, it's more than some of my pics at the lowest prices like the Octopus, but it's in the same ballpark as things long established like the reliable Kala KA-S and comes with a lot more 'looks' interest than those plainer mahogany laminates.

And as you will have garnered from the comments above, bar some largely personal quibbles, it's not a lot of money for a uke that is well put together and nicely finished in most areas. A horror show this is not. Set up out of the box is also pretty good with a 2.5mm 12th fret action though I would personally tinker the nut down very slightly. I'm pleased though especially considering I bought this from a drop shipper. It's not overly heavy either at 465g and largely well balanced too.

Basics first and this is doing them well enough. The volume projection is reasonable - not the loudest soprano, but not quiet either. It also carries more sustain than I would expect for a laminate box of this price. It's a soprano of course, so not off the charts, but this is much more than 'bands on a shoebox' territory. Not bad

Tone wise, we have to remember that this is not an expensive sold wood boutique ukulele, it's something you can find under eighty quid. Saying that, I find sopranos are more forgiving than other scales as their main 'thing' is to be a rhythmical instrument. And this one has plenty of that. Strummed it's easy to get a peppy, bouncy jumpy rhythm which works for a lot of faster strummed pieces and certainly the old time jazzier stuff. What it lacks for me is a touch of warmth to the tone which is the reason I think mahogany works so well on sopranos as this is a touch too bright and jangly to my ears. Again, that's a subjective one as I know a great many people who love that tone, but for me it's a bit too far that way.

Fingerpicking is less shiny with more of an echoey laminate tone coming through rather than sweeter pure notes and that gives it a more one dimensional sound to me when played that way. But hey, again, this is not a £1,000 Kamaka soprano and it works well as a ukulele and far better than some of the low priced junk out there.

So in summing up the tone, one has to come back to that value for money point and who this instrument suits. Sure you can go cheaper into the minefield, but this is still a cheaply priced ukulele that is just that little more serious. The core build is sound, so is the finish and setup on this example, something the minefield can be particularly treacherous on. It delivers the basics well too and the core performance is there for the money. A a peppy, nice enough sounding soprano ukulele for not a huge wedge. No it's not a killer tone, but look at the price. As a first uke for someone it's a no brainer for the money and even for somebody already playing and wanting a knockabout soprano, then why not?

https://flightmusic.com/

UKULELE SPECS ROUNDUP

Model: Flight DUS322
Scale: Soprano

Body: Laminate zebrawood
Bridge: Walnut tie bar
Saddle: Bone, compensated

Spacing at saddle: 41mm
Finish: Satin

Neck: Okoume
Fingerboard: Walnut
Frets: 12
Nut: Bone

Nut width: 34.5mm (27mm G to A)
Tuners: Unbranded sealed gears
Strings: Aquila
Extras: Gig bag
Country of origin: China
Weight: 465g

Price: Circa £85

UKULELE PROS

Clean build and finish
Not over top on decor in the body

Decent enough sustain for a soprano

Peppy bouncy tone

Better than average bag at this price point

Not a huge price

UKULELE CONS

Neck profile very generic

Some 'slightly' sharp fret ends
Sealed guitar gears on a soprano that are a bit nasty to use....

UKULELE SCORES

Looks - 8.5 out of 10

Fit and finish - 8 out of 10

Sound - 7.5 out of 10

Value for money - 9.5 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 8.4 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW

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