You've probably made a good choice with Wallace pipes, as I've heard nothing but good things about them.

We're in such a "golden age" of pipemaking today! We have great USA makers like Kron, Gibson, Cushing, Atherton, and MacLellan. And great Canadian, English, and of course Scottish makers.

I myself, just two days ago, picked up an early Lawrie set probably from the 1881-1900 period. They had been on a wall hanging over somebody's fireplace for many years. They're ebony wood, with real ivory projecting mounts, and thistle-engraved nickel ferrules, slides, and endcaps.

Rather than the original Lawrie chanter they have a 1960's/1970's Hardie chanter which the original Lawrie sole has been affixed to.

By the way, what sort of bag are you going with? I have a "roohide" (kangaroo) bag that I'm going to try. I've heard good things about roohide bags.