Gonna learn the pipes...doin' the happy dance!

[Bob C]

Best of luck with the "misery stick." Mine has sat, unused, for years.

I get the urge to try again every once in a while. Fortunately, it passes. :-D

[Piper]

I have two practice chanters. The first one I bought is a cheap piece of pakistani junk. But, oddly enough, it has an excellent tone and tunes right in with my instructor's chanter. This falls under the heading of "Don't try this at home". My instructor tells me that this is the first decent practice chanter of middle eastern origin that he's seen in 50 years.
The second chanter is a Dunbar, african blackwood with a poly top, and countersunk holes. I purchased this one from Pipers Hut, in Ohio. I've found them the best to deal with, both in terms of price and service, as witnessed by the fact that I've also purchased my Dunbar GHB and one of my sets of smallpipes from the same dealer. You can locate Piper's Hut through a Google search, or look up Bob Dunsire's Bagpipe Web Directory and/or Bob Dunisre's Bagpipe Forums. Both the Directory and the Forums are excellent sources of piping info.

[Avonlea22]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and the pointers.

I'm leaning towards a Dunbar chanter, but now I'm questioning the whole long and extra long. Luckily my instructor will have several at the first class (that's probably where I will buy it from...he runs www.carolinacelt.com) to choose from, so I'll be able to ask questions and choose from the variety given.