S/stan reminded me about the Curious Cuckoo Whistle which I had originally posted on Flying Pig website some time ago. Flying Pig is now entirely dedicated to printed material so I thought that I'd dust off the file and add it to robives.com.

The curious cuckoo whistle is a real novelty in paper engineering. A simple box shaped whistle that produces two distinct notes. The pitch is changed simply by touching the sides of the box. 

The file is available for everyone to download for free. Just click on the link. Print the single page out onto thin card (230 micron, 230 gsm) score along the dotted lines then carefully cut out the parts. Accuracy is important on this project, if the parts are mis-aligned or there are holes in the box it probably won't work.

Fold up and glue together the box… 

…and glue the tab down

Glue the sides of the box over the top of the box making sure that the parts are aligned.

Glue the saddle into place lining it up with the edge and the base of the box 

Let the glue dry completely.

To use the whistle hold it top and bottom between thumb and forefinger of one hand. Touch the burst pattern on the side with finger and thumb from the other hand to change the pitch.

I'm not sure how it works. Anyone got any ideas?