Homemade Air Whistles From a PVC Pipe

Cut a piece of PVC pipe to 30.5 centimeters in length, and another to 3 centimeters in length to be the whistle body and the windway top. Also, cut a 3-centimeter long piece out of the plastic stick for the fipple block. Saw a 45 degree angle or less on one end of the fipple block and the windway top. Sand all edges to a smooth well-polished surface.

Adjust the diameter of the fipple block until it fits perfectly into the whistle body. The fipple block is important to the sound of the whistle and should be perfectly cylindrical.

Draw a line from one end of the whistle body to the other end to make a whistle axis. Try to make the line perfectly parallel to the sides of the pipe. Mark 30 millimeters in from one end of the whistle body. Draw two parallel lines 8 millimeters apart and saw off the 8-mm by 30-mm section to become the windway. Make sure the sides are straight. Sand all edges to be smooth.

Cut a small section out of the shorter side of the windway top. The fipple block should stay 4-5mm form the lip. Snap the windway into place exactly above the fipple block. The mouthpiece should make a sound. If the sound is weak, sand the top of the fipple block to get a hairline space just below the lip.

Tune the whistle by moving the fipple block up and down to change the window size. Mark positions for the first hole starting at 42 percent of the distance from the lip. The second hole should be at approximately 50 percent, the third at 58 percent, the fourth at 67percent, the fifth at 72 percent and the sixth at 83 percent. Use a sharp object to cut the holes and sand the edges.