>> To be honest I've seen lots of great machine built wheels over the
>> years, and I've also seen a lot of poor hand built wheels. . .
> John Thompson wrote:
>
> Absolutely. In my experience, a great deal depends on the quality of the
> components used. If you start with crappy rims, even the greatest wheel
> builder will only produce a mediocre wheel.
Yes, the presence, or lack of, steel ferrules allows the torque applied to the nipple to more closely remain proportional to the actual tension. I believe this also defines the limit of machine-built quality, as the machine only arrives at correct tension by controlling alpplied torque to the nipple.
As John stated, many handbuilt wheels are only mediocre, and I believe this is because so many builders rely only on the feel of the wrench to arrive at "uniform" tensions, leaving a large tension variation due to varying friction. I've always used sound to equalize tensions, holding the crossed spoke silent with my finger while plucking each spoke, and can thus get within just a few percent for all the same-side spokes. Variations in nipple friction can otherwise incur very large variations in actual tension, and so many of the wheels I've worked on seem to reflect this.
David Snyder
Auburn, CA usa