Originally Posted by
contango
FB did say that "Even tension is desirable, but is not the key objective. The goal is and has always been a true wheel, properly dished. That's the ONLY real objective, and while doing so with tension as close to even as possible is nice, true trumps even tension."
I'm not an expert wheelbuilder but it seems obvious to me that if the spokes are evenly tensioned but the wheel isn't true, the end result is no good. If the wheel is true and the tension is as close to even as possible, you've got a good wheel. I read FB's post as saying that you want tension to be as close to even as possible, while stressing that a true wheel with slightly uneven tensions beats an out of true wheel with even tensions.
If the only way to get the wheel true is for the spoke tensions to be wildly away from anything resembling even, my first thought would be that there's something badly wrong with the rim. The first (and so far only) time I ever built a wheel for actual use (I practised on a few trashed wheels to get the hang of lacing and truing first), trueness and roughly even tension pretty much came together as I tightened the nipples. My wife is a musician and she couldn't tell the difference in pitch between most of the spokes on any given side, and the lateral and radial runouts were both within about 0.5mm
ETA: The wheel I built has carried my fat ass (240lb plus the weight of the bike) for north of 3000 miles so far and hasn't caused me any issues.
That's not the way I read his remarks. I read that tension is distant second in importance i.e. don't worry about it. I just don't build wheels that way. They are always true and I work them very hard to get the spokes as close in tension as possible. Different strokes for different folks, BUT I sure would be pissed if I bought a wheel and it wasn't as good as what I build. To me tension and true are neck and neck in importance. And why not? It is easy to get the wheel true and the tension nearly perfectly even. When I can't, I return the rim for a replacement. And BTW, by using the tension meter, I hit the desired tension right on the button. No by guess, by golly. That's my story, and I am sticking to it.