Recorder31 Day 5 | Introducing the Kunath Sigo Bass

At The Early Music Shop, we stock recorders from some of the biggest names in recorder-making across the world. During Recorder31, we love to introduce some of the recent arrivals in our range, and today's featured instrument is the latest addition to one of the most talked-about recorder models of recent years.

Created by the Kunath workshop in Germany, the Sigo range has been taking the recorder scene by storm since the tenor model debuted at the London International Festival of Early Music in November 2024. With its innovative folded bore and natural-based resin construction, the instrument was jointly developed by recorder makers Jo Kunath and Geri Bollinger and has sold in its thousands around the world.

Now, in 2026, the range has been joined by a bass recorder. With the same folded bore design offering the smallest finger stretch of any bass recorder on the market, this instrument could be the affordable and accessible way into playing bass you have been searching for!

We've added new bespoke audio demos of the Sigo bass to our website – check them out below, then click here to find out more about the instrument and order yours today!

Listen to this recorder!

Van Eyck Doen Daphne:

Playford King of Poland:

Scale:

Last year, we spoke to Jo Kunath about the remarkable success of the Sigo range. You can read the interview in full in our Recorder Yearbook & Maintenance Guide 2026, but here are a few extracts...

We asked Jo about the unique construction of the Sigo recorders, and asked him if the instruments were hard to design...

Jo Kunath: You’re right, the internal construction is truly unique, and we have applied for property rights on some of the details. Herbert Paetzold had already anticipated the folding of internal bores in recorders by bending the head and foot joints. But the folding in the area of the tone holes is something that Gerry [Bollinger] developed from scratch. I am incredibly glad that we had spent four years developing RESONA and already had a lot of experience with the material.

With Sigo, the aim was to be able to design the inner walls and surfaces with RESONA, because until then we had only printed the large bass flutes. With Sigo, the biggest challenge was no longer to save weight, but to print very complex geometries. That was another major technical challenge.

We also asked Jo for his thoughts on why the Sigo has been so popular since its launch...

Jo Kunath: The key point is the deep sound. It’s often not that people play soprano recorders because they loved the high tone, but because it was the only size of recorder that children could reach. That has completely changed with Sigo, and the great wind tunnel that Gerry developed gives the instrument a wonderfully malleable sound. Pupils, teachers and parents are constantly expressing their gratitude for this.

Click here to purchase our Recorder Yearbook & Maintenance Guide 2026, to read this interview in full, along with other contributions from Anna Stegmann and Dorothee Oberlinger, and our expert recorder maintenance advice.

And check out this video to see The Early Music Shop's very own Olivia Petryszak demonstrating the sound of the Sigo tenor.

Plus! Coming Soon...

The Sigo alto is also in the works and you can pre-order yours from The Early Music Shop now! As with the tenor and bass, we will fulfil pre-orders in chronological order of date placed, so take your place in the queue today and your instrument will be sent to you as soon as we receive it!

Do you have a Sigo recorder? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below!

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Here's a chance to hear a more conventional bass recorder – the Küng Superio Bass in Cherrywood is one of the most popular basses in our catalogue thanks to its attractive design, powerful sound and robust construction. Check out the audio clips below or follow this link to find out more about this instrument.

Listen to this recorder!

Van Eyck Doen Daphne:

Playford King of Poland:

Scale: