I'm seriously considering taking up the bagpipes as an addition to the melodeon (so I can piss off even more people:-) ). I'm not into highland bagpiping or similar and not (although I love listening to them) Northumbrian small pipes either. I'm tending towards Border or Flemish pipes, something with more than an ocatve range but not necessarily chromatic and have been advised it would be better to start off with a G set rather than D. I'm not prepared to pay silly money but can afford a decent starter/student set and I would like to play a mixture of English, French and Italian (Piemonte region for example) tunes. I've not made my mind up on mouth or bellows blown.

Any tips on learning, sources/makers of instruments, suggestions for other sorts of pipes and anything else you think a new piper needs to know will be gratefully recieved