Originally Posted by Seggybop
Old wheels with freewheels generally have the same spoke length on both sides with more tension on one to cause the dishing
Yeah, come to think of it I did once redish an old wheel to SS that pretty much had the same spoke lengths both sides. I'm not sure it's generally true, but ripping up old wheels just to measure the spokes ain't exactly on my list of fun things to do on a Friday night.
Another general rule: ghetto solutions that cost more than 30% of doing it right will rarely be economical in the long run, and frequently won't get you past next tuesday. If anybody here is a guitar nerd, my analogy is always that most people spend more money over time trying to get some crap rig to sound like a les paul through a marshall than it would have cost them to just fork it over (or finance it) for the paul/marshall in the first place.