Huayi ZI Ultrathin
ZI or is it IZ?
What I have gone for this time is an "ultra thin bodied" (4cm) spruce top Soprano in a high gloss black finish. Well there aren't any thin body Ukuleles at the corner, (and I do need to have a good example set as I HAVE to lose a lot of weight), and this one does look quite stylish with the very close to Lag and Leho styling. It is a Chinese brand I have not heard of before and I'm not sure from the logo if it's supposed to be Z I or I Z? Whatever the case, if it does look as good as the picture(?), it will come at a very reasonable price especially if it does come from the same factory as the more famous brands it copies so closely.
It's Here now and its very shiny and black...
Well it would be but there are a few dirt and finger marks on it, (so far they have all cleaned off and its very shiny underneath but clearly it's going to be one that will be difficult to keep shiny). It is also quite head heavy with its small ultrathin body but one of the chunkiest necks I've seen on a Soprano and quite heavy closed geared tuners. This leaves it with an odd balance that means you can almost balance it on the chord hand alone so don't have to put much pressure on with the strumming arm. This does add to the volume but also leads to an interesting technique when playing.
On further polishing I did fine a scratch on the back that didn't polish out! It looks like it has been used before, maybe as a demonstration piece? It also on close inspection would, if it were being made for one of the more prestigious brands Huayi claim OEM for, (and that it closely copies), be a QC failure. There is a number of other little flaws close up; things like crooked tuners, rough edges to the bridge, marks on the tuner buttons and other little scuffs here and there as well as the fairly large scratch on the back. None of these add up to a problem, or really notice for a distance, and really you can't complain about any of them for the price, but if I was paying for the more prestigious brand name model then you would.