A real amateur here as I’ve built one wheel and have never bought new spokes. The bikes I’ve acquired have been mostly neglected. My personal 73 Schwinn Super Sport that I bought used in 1975 was neglected by me for 40 years as I didn’t know better. It has double butted spokes, and a replacement bike shop front rim was relaced in about 1982 with db spokes about 1/4” short.

I wonder if some of us have most experience with neglected bikes. Often I bet, spoke tension is never checked, and the results with the general vintage sampling of bikes represents generally maintenance differed bikes. Often probably not many miles on these bikes we acquire, so apples to apples comparisons are not part of the equation. I greatly respect users opinions with bikes going thousands of miles and find the theoretical points quite interesting. I also don’t fret things too much on my smaller fleet, as each bike gets ridden in the 50-200 miles a year range, so proper attention to maintenance is good for me now. DB spokes for sure, if I ever do buy some, especially for the vintage NOS Super Champion 58 rims I just purchased.