Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 44,167
Likes: 6,390
From: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem
If you are unwinding a twisted spoke, you are not changing the tension or the length of the spoke. The point of the practice is that the last quarter turn of the nipple, you are not adding tension; you are just twisting the spoke. That's why you have to turn it back a quarter turn.