As to the listmember that believes careful time consuming work on a wheel is anal - I must disagree. Anal has a translation in the psychological world as someone who is overly retentive. It refers to those people who tend to collect. In that definition, most or many of us would tend to be somewhat anal. Now as to the common use of the word anal - I also disagree. Wheelbuilding is as much a meditation as anything else. In a world where so many things are rushed and done slap dab - one finds solace in careful work which reveals as much about our souls as it does about the physics of a well built wheel.
My weekend's work resulted in high flange track wheels with 292 length db spokes and Mavic Open Pro rims. The reference books tell me that these spokes when correctly tensioned will have a tone when plucked of A above middle C. The most off I am from that tone on any one spoke is less than 1/2 step to A flat or less than 1/2 step to the slightly higher B flat. Lateral wobble was kept to less than 0.5 mm and out of round was kept to no more than 1.0 mm. I consider that to be the most successful wheelset I have ever built.
The same listmember that cautioned us not to be too anal also stated that he builds wheels to plus or minus 0.002 inch variation. I think he must have meant 0.02 inch but even that degree of accuracy would still fall in someone's definition of anal. Most of our marriages will stand or fail on the basis of something other than spending two hours working on a wheel. There's love and communication in the mix too, along with respect and passion. After I finished my wheel, I was just as communicative and horny as ever.
Garth Libre in Miami Florida USA