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How far out is your tension? If you're doing it by ear, an octave difference in plucked tone is a 4:1 tension ratio, so a semi-tone is about 12% difference in tension*. If the rim is circular before you start, you should easily be able to get every spoke in a symmetrical wheel within a quarter tone. If your wheels are circular but the tension is more unbalanced than that, either the rim wasn't circular to start with or, more likely, you're letting some spokes do more than their fair share of pulling and the rim stiffness is holding the wheel circular in spite of, rather than thanks to, the spoke tension.
*mathematicians please check, I think this is right.
gbj_tester
@El_sabor
So, I've built a few wheels now and I can't seem to get spoke tensions even. I'm doing this by ear so far.
I usually get the wheel tight and true, even the tensions and gradually tension the wheel to the max tension I want. I then check the tension is even before finally truing.
Problem is, I true to within less than a mm but the tensions arn't even anymore. Is this normal? I thought ideally I should be trying to balance tension?
I hate going back to it to even out the tension once it's so perfect!