On Mar 31, 6:28 am, richard wrote:
In other words, is "each spoke tightened to so many Kg" as important as
knowing all spokes are tensioned equally?

As others have said you can pluck the spokes to get relative tension
even on each side, but a tensiometer is necessary (for me at least) to
get the absolute tension correct. Generally, you want the tension as
high as the rim spec (or until buckling occurs), but if tension is
much lower than this, then the spokes might go slack in service which
reduces the strength of the wheel, and may also result in loosening
(if they aren't locktited), and early fatigue. The spoke wrench is the
only tool you really need to build a wheel, but I'd say that a
tensiometer is the 2nd most important. At least it is a good idea to
check your spoke tension at a local shop if you don't want to buy
one.

It is very easy to get a wheel acceptably true, but still have
tensions varying all over the place. Basically, the rim stiffness is
enough to mask the variation. Sloppy building jobs are like this...
including cheap machine built wheels I've had.