[hcoles]

or... you could get a "cheap" built wheel and re-true and tension the spokes. Get a spoke tension tool and buy or make a truing stand. My first truing stand I made with some wood from OSH. I check the dish by flipping the wheel.
Read about de-stressing the wheel as the spokes are brought up to near the final tension. I think the talk about wheel building being an art is bs. If the wheel is true, the spokes within the specified tension range and close to equal and the wheel/spokes have been destressed you are done and you will have a wheel that will stay true. You can always ride for a few hundred miles and then check the spoke tension and runout.