Spokes

They look lovely, and having read your earlier posts here and elsewhere I hope you get rolling on them soonish. The work you put into getting them right has been exemplary, and a little bit humbling... Awesome.

Kind words, thanks.

On the conical flange drilling topic, one of my fave gurus, Roger Musson of Wheelpro, says that the countersunk side is to accommodate the elbow of the spoke, but on an aluminium flange it's ok to put the head into it as the material beds down ok either way.
I'm no expert, but would have done exactly as you have, and gone for a nicer looking circle of heads.

This sounds right to me. I was actually swung to the pillar spokes because of their short elbows. Which should give them a more snug fit in the hub drillings. This probably exasperated the issues of trying to lace the front hub heads in though. The head was'nt entering the drilling, preventing the curve of the elbow from clearing the other side of the drilling. This causing the spoke to point outwards, away from the rim. Would have needed more bending then I was happy with to pull it off, and would have looked 'botched'.