Flight A10QM Faded Blue All Solid Quilted Maple Tenor Ukulele - 10th Anniversary Model #QM5

This stunning 10th anniversary Flight tenor ukulele has taken the number 1 spot in our top 10 ukulele list of 2021. We are absolultely in awe of this instrument!  

I honestly very nearly hid one of these beautiful Flight tenors away from you to keep it for myself! That's how much I love this tenor ukulele. It's so good that I don't want you to have it!

Seriously though, since I wrote that paragraph in Feb 2021, 8 months has passed and in the scurry to get more of these wonderful instruments produced; there was a little bit of confusion over the finish and subsequently a model was born that drew inspiration from multiple models.

The A10QM tenor ukulele is quilted maple as opposed to flamed maple which has a straighter grain pattern. It was then finished in a blue to white fade finish rather than the deep ocean blue the first batch of these had... I can't say we are complaining! We have had the fortune of dealing with custom builders and manufacturers at every price and this model represents fantastic value for its price giving even the big brands like aNueNue, Romero Creations, Maestro and Big Island a serious run for their money.

The quilted maple looks stunning and would be worthy of your attention even without the blue fade finish and elaborate hand inlaid abalone rosette. Tonally, the difference between flamed maple and quilted maple is tough to pinpoint but aesthetically the two look very different with the quilted wood resembling the effect of a puddle splashing against the faded blue finish.

Rather than use the factory responsible for the Fireball, Mustang and Voyager models - Flight have gone to a respected Chinese luthier and as a result, these instruments have all of the personality of a Flight but with the uniqueness of a small luthier team build.

The sound of the maple is incredibly balanced and although it has arrived with us from Flight strung high G; this ukulele is absolutely dying to be strung low G. That's the good thing about maple, it sounds mature and crystal clear - refreshing on the ears and eyes. For the time being as well, this 'happy accident' with the finish has made for a bombastic uke exclusive in the UK to Southern Ukulele Store (at time of writing).

The finish is extremely good inline with other instruments at this price from the big boys like Kanile'a, KoAloha etc. We did find on the most recent batch that a few knots in the wood could be found inside the creases of the slotted headstock but even the loftiest price custom shop instrument might have something like that... Still, you folks expect us to find these things so it's better we mention it in the listing!

It is so, so hard to make the jump from beginner's brand to intermediate and finally professional brand. So many people have tried to do this over the decades with mixed results. Flight have done it flawlessly in under 2 years.

Specification:
Solid quilted maple top, back and sides with blue fade staining
19 frets - 14 to body
Ebony fingerboard and bridge
Offset position markers
Dyed maple binding
Abalone purfling
Abalone soundhole rosette
Ebony comfort edge
Unique slotted headstock
Pin bridge
Compensated saddle
Brazillian fluorocarbon strings
38mm nut width
Padded gigbag