FYI: In my 30 years of riding and 100K miles on my old mtn bike, I guess I have never had a "properly built" wheel. I also have never built a wheel myself, just tried to keep them true and going. Most front wheels have been fine until the rim wears through, the back wheel was the most problematic in terms of spokes (as expected). All previous wheels have been 32 spoke, the next one I have ready is 36 spoke. My current rear wheel has 16K miles, and is still good, no broken spokes... maybe it was properly built, or it was me re-tensioning spokes from time to time.