Robert (rpenmanparker), thanks for the steel wool suggestion. Gives me the opportunity to feel like I'm doing something, even if it's just a placebo.
And contango, thanks, I hadn't thought about how even a broken spoke would be held in place by its neighbors. May not need that hypnotist, after all. (Although krobinson, you're not helping! Joking aside, was this a high spoke count wheel?)
Mike