Well,
I must agree that having a good practice set or something similar really helps a lot for a beginner. Cheap sets of inferior quality somewhat murder the interest and confidence of potential talents and make them shy away from this already 'difficult' instrument.
I'm well into the 15th day of piping and was really thrilled when i hit top D for the first time.(i'm sure you guys remember the first time you hear top D on your own chanter) This came so much easier because i had a good set of pipes. To be honest, i was expecting squeks and sqwaks on my chanter which did not turn out. The only unavoidable headache would be the reed.
Happy Piping Fellow Pipers!
Cowan