Flight NUT500 Tenor Ukulele

Continuing my look at good value ukuleles I was pleased recently to get hold of this brand new one from Flight. This is the Flight NUT500 Tenor.

These were only very recently announced, and, I don't think are even in UK Stores yet (Got A Ukulele first once again?). Flight say this new trio in their Natural Series is here to 'shake up the ukulele world', being a range of solid topped ukuleles at an 'unbeatable price'. This got me thinking about how many solid top ukes I've actually looked at and whilst they can be ten a penny in the 'who are they' brands on Amazon, it's not actually that many from the household names. I suppose the aNueNue Color comes to mind, as does the Uma UK-05SC, both great low priced instruments, but sure enough... this Flight series undercuts them both on price.

SUMMARY VIDEO REVIEW

The NU 500 series comes in three scales, soprano through to tenor and i've been lucky to have had a play of all of them, but chosen to feature the Tenor for this review (see the video for some sneaks of the others). They all have the same specs though, which is to say solid mahogany tops on laminate mahogany back and sides bodies. They also all come in an attractive modern and very rounded double bout shape which is common for Flight now and looks great, particularly on the concert in my view. Being made from mahogany it's never going to set the world alight on looks I guess, but it's nice enough and simple to look at. In fact simplicity runs through this one in order to stake that claim on low price, and you know I like simpler looking instruments so this doesn't scare me. The top back and sides are also a decent match to each other. That may seem an odd thing to say considering they are all mahogany, but I have seen several uke examples with solid tops where the solid sheet is clearly from a very different batch to the back and sides and looks odd - here the woods all look similar which is nice.

The bridge is a through body style plate made of 'techwood' being either a composite or a stained hardwood. I'm going composite here as it looks very like Richlite to me with the smooth satin finish and that's a material I think we should be seeing more of as it works well and doesn't involve using ebony or rosewood trees. It's very tidy too. Sitting in that is an ABS plastic saddle and a spacing of 41mm.

Being a ukulele built to a price point means you get very little decoration, so no bindings, no purfling, no abalone, but I quite like it for that clean look. The sound hole ring is a laser etch job which usually sets my skin crawling, but you know what? - I am rather taken with the geometric design here. It's a modern look which is quite clean and nothing flowery or 'faux Hawaiian' which I can't stand. I could live with that and I think it shows that you can make this technique work with the right design. OK, I'd still prefer an inlay but, again.. back to the price.. The body is finished in an open pore satin which is thin and even all over and has no complaints from me. Elsewhere on the body are a pair of strap buttons and you get them on all the scale choices too.

Inside looks tidy with notched linings and regular thin braces. No issues here..

The neck is specced as Okoume and is also satin coated. it's formed from three pieces with joints in the normal places which are not too obvious. At the nut the profile is pretty generic with a rounder back than I would like and a pretty standard 35mm nut with 27mm spacing. It's not to my taste, but as I say, rather standard and I can't have everything..

Topping that is a rosewood fretboard, which is even in colour and looks well conditioned. It does need a bit of a scrub with wire wool though as there are remnants of oil that make some fret spaces look a bit scruffy. Being a value driven instrument you don't get the excellent semi-hemi fret ends that Flight use a lot, but this is still edge bound and the frets are dressed nicely with no sharp edges I can feel. Position dots face out at the 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th and they are paired down the side with an extra one at the 15th.

Beyond the bone nut is a crown shaped headstock faced in a darker wood (rosewood) which looks clean and classy against the mono colour of the rest of the instrument. The Flight F logo is a pearl inlay in the top face.

The tuners are similar to those I've seen on Flight before - black open gears with brassy coloured mechanisms. They are unbranded but work just fine.

Finishing the deal along with the strap buttons are a set of D'Addario Titanium strings and a more functional but still decent Flight branded gig bag. And I've talked about value.. well I am not sure of UK store pricing but the Flight RRP is €99 for the tenor and a bit cheaper for the concert and soprano. Terrific value and really not far away from the prices of the laminate entry models from the likes of Kala and Ohana. Heck, this is CHEAPER than laminates like the Baton Rouge Sun ukes. Superb value indeed.

So a lot to like here so far, and certainly for that price. The build is great as is the finish (bar the fingerboard needing a clean). It's also light at 545g, balances well and is nice to hold and handle.

Basics first and the volume is absolutely terrific on this one. This packs a wonderful punch and projects clearly without a lot of effort on your strumming hand. Great. Sustain is a little more average here. That isn't to say it is 'poor' or 'bad' as there is certainly some sustain, but it's not the longest ring out i've played. Still, string experimentation would likely also adjust that.

The tone itself is very much down the mids as you would expect from mahogany, but there is a bit of brightness and bass too giving it a balanced and interesting sound. I think this is a delight as a strummer. Played that way this is a really peppy, jangly and bouncy sounding instrument that is harmonising with itself and giving you the impression you have more than four strings. Fingerpicking is chimey and again has great volume and clarity right up the neck. Throw in some strums to your melody lines and it's good all round!

OK, it's not a hugely complex sound with the sort of character you would get from an expensive koa or mango uke, but it's a clear and very enjoyable mahogany tone that put a smile on my face to play. And 99 euros...

Yes it's a simple looker too I suppose, but it works extremely well as a value ukulele. In fact the main takeaway here is this is punching WELL above the asking price and that makes it a total no-brainer ukulele for me.

At this ticket price these should sell by the bucketload and it comes very highly recommended. Great uke!!

https://flightmusic.com/

UKULELE SPECS ROUNDUP

Model: Flight NUT500

Scale: Tenor

Body: Solid mahogany top, laminate mahogany back and sides

Bridge: Techwood, through bridge

Saddle: ABS

Finish: Satin

Neck: Okoume

Fingerboard: Rosewood

Frets: 18, 14 to body

Nut: ABS

Nut width: 35mm, 27mm G to A

Tuners: Open gears

Strings: D'Addario Titanium

Extras: Strap buttons, gig bag

Weight: 545g

Country of origin: China

Price: €99

UKULELE PROS

Good build and body finish

Light

Excellent projection

Balanced tone with rich mids

Peppy strummed sound
Terrific value for money

UKULELE CONS

Neck profile not for me

Fingerboard on this one needs a scrub!

UKULELE SCORES

Looks - 8.5 out of 10

Fit and finish - 8.5 out of 10
Sound - 9 out of 10

Value for money - 10 out of 10

OVERALL UKULELE SCORE - 9 out of 10

UKULELE VIDEO REVIEW

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