So, I was sailing about today and encountered this pic:
Anybody know what those whistly-ish things are? They sure look fun!
Those are crumhorns…and they are fun!
Double-reeded (like a pipe), fingered like a recorder, with a very soft, mellow buzz and about an octave and a half range.
I’ve always wanted one myself but never had a chance to try one.
–James
ok, thanks. 
Susato makes one – http://www.susato.com/historicalwinds.htm
As to whether they sound like a recorder or not, I can not say.
Damn, I just noticed the prices. Doesn’t anybody have a starter krumhorn in the 30 dollar range?
Yeah, but after your investment and some time, you can put on ye olde clothes and play Renfairs and the like…It’s one of the many Early Music Footballs… gotta have one if you wanna play.
They definitely don’t sound a thing like recorders. They’re a capped double reed…in other words, they have a double reed that you don’t play with your lips (like oboe, etc.) but which has a cap over and you blow into to make the reed vibrate. They take a TON of air, have a lot of pressure…and mellow buzz? When I played one, we decided they sounded like constipated geese.
~Crysania
Was this theory tested?
grins No…but you’re welcome to try to find out what one sounds like! 
~Crysania
Try here:
http://www.rwcweb.com/index.jsp
The Renaissance Workshop co.
It’a a nice looking site and they look like they know what they are doing. The have crumhorn kits from GBP 130-180 which is still not in the $30 wistle range, but, hey, you WILL be the first on your block!
I’ve wanted one for a loong time; and a Rauschpfeife, too, for waking the neighbors.
Roger
It has been my experience that geese are never constipated–quite the opposite!
M
Yes, I knew krumhorns as a rule do not sound like recorders. I was just speculating as to whether the Susato krumhorns would.
Crumhorns: A sound sample here, from the Gryphon home page:
http://www.gaudela.net/gryphon/sounds/Gryphon-The_Unquiet_Grave-64.mp3
I used to have a bass one.
Kevin Krell
You can hear crumhorns being played on Richard and Linda Thompson’s classic album “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”, particularly on the track “We all sing Hallelujah”.
They definitely sound like Geese. Back when I first started making instruments in my garage, I built a cornemuse (similar to Crumhorn only has no hook) out of PVC and when testing it, it attracted a flock of Canadian Geese.
Bach when I was a freshman music student at the University of British Columbia (sounds snootier than it is) I was accosted by some rather seedy looking folks from the Collegium Musicum, our ancient music group.They had heard that saxophonists were musical sluts who would play anything, so they thrust a bad photocopy of neumes into my left hand, and a tenor crummhorn into my right. My less-than-stellar saxophoning had not garnered many playing invitations, so on I trotted, crummhorn in hand.
The crummhorn proved to be a gateway instrument for me, like the way murder and kidnapping lead to speeding and jaywalking. Several times that year I found myself on stage playing windcap horns, rackett (like a bassoon that’s been run over by a truck) and r%c*r#e%s. We had an insane amount of fun, especially once we discovered that the tone quality of windcap instruments improves when the entire consort is half-pickled on beer.
One dark and stormy night we snuck into the theater and borrowed period clothing (we weren’t quite sure of the period) and proceeded to our gig at GRONK!, the music school’s year end bash. The stage was set, our costumes were perfect, and our crummhorns were polished. Our first number:
Barbara Anne, by the Beach Boys.
BTW, tenor crums sound like very un-constipated geese. Sopranos sound like ducks being fed into a meat-grinder, feet first. Baritone Crums sound like Barry White.
the band in depicted is gryphon.
I didn’t realize that. I only cared for 2 of their CDs, Midnight Mushrumps, and Red Queen to Gryphon 4.
Kevin Krell
In college, we refered to the whole class of instruments as “buzzies.”
What an odd coincidence. Before reading Daniel’s post, I was just googling for crumhorn plans
and I happened upon that very Cornemuse:
http://www.mimf.com/archives/cpvc_cornemuse.htm
I love the soda-straw reed.