Originally Posted by
cny-bikeman
It does not have to be a wheel builder, but there's no guarantee about how well they will be able to correct it. It's actually sometimes harder to straighten the rim when all the spokes are removed. In any case there's no sense in paying someone to do that PLUS rebuild the wheel. If you've gone that far then you either need to purchase a new wheel or have the wheel rebuilt using the same model rim (to be able to use the same spokes.
+1. This was going to be the second part of my advice. With the rim mounted on the hub Via not tight spokes one has both a way to handle the rim in a controlled manor (while doing all kinds of blacksmithy to it) and be able to gage the out of round (which is near impossible to ascertain when the rim is without a hub and spokes). But the OP had already gone the take apart route. Andy.