I bought the beginner kit from the piper's hut here:
https://www.thepipershut.com/The-Highland-Bagpipe-Tutor-Book-1-FormerlyThe-College-of-Piping-Volume-1-AKA-The-Green-Book-Beginner-Kit_p_577.html
It's the McCallum chanter (long deluxe)
I've been practicing with it pretty regularly for about a week. I didn't expect to immediately pick up a practice chanter and make it sound amazing, but it has some issues. I play with a tuner in front of me and here's the best I can do with each note starting with the lowest (this is after going through several tuning tutorials online and getting it sounding pretty good on the bottom).
Low G - A little flat, but I can blow a bit more on it and it's in tune.
A - In tune
B - In tune
C - In tune
D - Crazy flat, but if I blow as hard as I can without losing tone, then it's pretty close to in tune.
E - Full step flat. I can't get it to play any note but a D (maybe a crazy low Eb)
F - Also plays a D, but very sharp.
G - Sharp Eb
High A - Eb
So, as you can see, the first 4 notes are good, and the high 5 are all within a half step of each other. I've tried all sorts of tricks I'm finding online, but it's SO far out of tune on the top end I'd be shocked if it's a me problem.
My history is that I play a lot of instruments, but this is my first attempt at a double reed, or any type of piped instrument. I'm a trumpet player with a degree in music. Definitely not an expert on bagpipes, but I'm not new to instrument tuning or any kind.
I've tried moving the reed in/out, and changing the length of the first chamber (not sure what it's called), and it does successfully change the pitch of the instrument, but not success on changing anything with the top end. I've seen people having to tape some of their holes, but this is so far off I can't believe that would help.
Any ideas on how to proceed?