Flight Centurion Electric Solid Body Tenor Ukulele - Goldtop

Flight have really taken the bull by the horns in recent years - in 2020 alone they have succesfully launched the gorgeous Flight Fireball Mango Tenor and a whole range of Soundwaves models... It feels to me like the entire Ukulele world is talking about Flight right now. You would think that Flight might take a moment to relax and contemplate their next move but to our surprise they have already listened to their customers - designed, refined and launched three extremely attractive solid body Electric Tenor Ukuleles to close out the year.

The Centurion is more than a little bit based on an extremely famous single cut Electric Guitar from a company with a name that sounds a bit like bigson. Available initially in either a traditional 50's style goldtop or a more wild fiery 'vintage burst'; the twin humbucking pickups, three way selector switch and controls open up an entire genre of music to the Ukulele world. If you want to plug in with effects or explore the overdrive channel of your amp then this Ukulele was built with you in mind. Equally, if you want to roll back the volume and tone and learn some jazz chords the unique metallic timbre of brighter edge to this Ukulele can certainly exceed your expectations.

The ukulele itself is a thing of beauty, featuring a vintage burst flame maple veneer top with rich mahogany body and neck. The ukulele features a bound fretboard, cream binding, hardtail fixed bridge, and dual humbucker pickups each with its own set of controls for volume and tone, plus a three way switch.

For those unfamiliar with the anatomy of an electric guitar - this instrument has a mahogany body under those bold coloured finishes and two magnetic pickups. The steel strings, slim taper to the neck and lack of acoustic chambering mean that this uke will require some adjustment to your playing style to truly master. The four control knobs on the top control the individual volume and tone of each pickup and it's clear Flight thought long and hard about the spec of this Ukulele because it has a zero fret, an electric mandolin style bridge with individual saddles and finally a nice padded blue Flight gigbag.

The question you will be asking now is whether this instrument can be nearly as good as the Risa LP, ST or TE models that have been on the market for the better half of the last decade and I would say that these Ukes offer the same experience with perfectly acceptable and serviceable hardware but they are still a Chinese factory Ukulele (the Risa's are made in the EU) with cosmetic marks visible when you really scrutinise it. 

we factor in a large amount of time on our outgoing set up work to make the required improvements and to make them perform at their best - on average, each one of these sold so far has spend between 60-120 minutes on the workbench and all are restrung with a good quality set of Electric Guitar strings. This does mean our prices sit a notch higher than large box-shifting retailers that don't check instruments before dispatching them and only you can decide whether the comprehensive check and work carried out beforehand is worth the extra investment.

The first batch of 6 we have received have needed a bit of TLC on the frets and wiring before we were happy to sell them but that doesn't cost you anything! For many, the difference in price between the two will more than make up for these differences and my hope is that by introducing an actual affordable solid body to Uke players that works (unlike some disastrously poor models other brands have tried to introduce in the past and failed), Flight will be the spark for an entire generation of loud and proud Electric Uke players... That sounds lovely, but I better buy some earplugs!