Bike Mechanics didn't work out for me, so I'm posting here as I know there are a lot of knowledgeable wheel builders here.

So I decided to cheap out on spokes for my girlfriend's build and bought straight guage spokes for some reason. In hindsight, I should have just bought double guage spokes, but at the time I thought that it doesn't matter (and I'm sure it doesn't in reality) since all she does is commute and go an occasional short ride with me. The wheels are now laced and are pretty close to being perfect. They are the gray anodized open pros laced a 6600 rear hub and 105 front hub. I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to tear down the wheels, get double butted spokes, and rebuild them. I would then save the spokes for a build with some Open Sports and whatever hub I come across in the future. Would that jsut be a total waste of time? The perfectionist in me is annoyed by this.

The spokes I got for the rear are too long. They poke out a bit... like 3mm or so. However, there was enough thread to bring the wheel under ~110 DS/~85 NDS. Think it'll be a problem? Shouldn't matter if I use good rim strip like velox right?

And a general question: How do you guys go about setting the tension for the wheel? Every post I look at gives a tension range your wheels should be at. Would you ever not want to put it at the highest tension within the range? It may be not necessary for lighter riders, but why wouldn't you if you are already going through the trouble of tensioning?

I'm new to wheel building. Have built 5 sets and I'm hooked.