Looking into pipes...

[Macman]

I am no expert on bagpipes, but I've had my McCallums for almost four years now and I'm very happy with them. My understanding is that McCallum pipes themselves are the same regardless of the model (e.g. AB1's are the same as the AB4's but without the bling), so sound and performance-wise, you'd be getting the same as a more expensive set of McCallums.
Check out bobdunsireforums.com for more if you haven't already. All the best!

[OC Richard]

Yes sometimes the very plain pipes have an elegance all their own.

McCallums are very good-sounding pipes. Also, their customer service is excellent.

But... if you're the patriotic sort you might want to investigate USA-made pipes. MacLellan, Kron, Gibson, and Atherton are making top-notch pipes here in the USA.

Atherton pipes have gained a world-class repuation due to several sets being played in the World Champion pipe band Simon Fraser University. They're exacting copies of classic MacDougal bagpipes. Yes they are expensive but they're probably the best pipes being made anywhere on Earth today.

MacLellan pipes are great for someone looking for something different. They've come up with a distinctive profile for their drones: MacLellan pipes can't be mistaken for anything else.

Also MacLellan has come out with a few models which are reproductions of early bagpipes, one a copy of a c1800 set, one a copy of the c1750 "Waterloo" set. In any case you won't get a "cookie-cutter" set of pipes from MacLellan.

Dunbar Bagpipes in Canada makes excellent Henderson-style bagpipes. Unfortunately most people have only seen polypenco Dunbars, but make no mistake, blackwood Dunbars are among the finest pipes being made anywhere.

Then there are quite a few pipemakers in Scotland that might be termed "boutique makers" in that they make their pipes entirely by hand, one at a time. McCallum makes 40 bagpipes a week: these guys probably don't make many more than that in a year.

One guy is Douglas MacPherson. Another is Blue MacMurchie. And Tim Gellaitry.

Standing in between the one-man-operation "boutique" makers and a large CNC maker like McCallum is a maker like Naill. Naills are played at the top level by a number of solo competitors.

Just to get an idea of the variety of pipes out there, you owe it to yourself to spend some time looking over the websites of MacLellan and Douglas MacPherson, to name just two.