spoke lengths, how critical?

I think it should be ok. 2mm is as far off the ideal length as I'd go when building a wheel, but i'd prefer to have them closer. Any shorter than 2mm and there's not enough thread engagement...too long and the threads might bottom out before proper tension is achieved. Also if they're too long and you're using single wall rims, you'll have to grind off whatever is protruding beyond the nipple.
I'd say build the wheels too find out how the spokes fit. I've built wheels with spokes the length that was calculated for the rim/hub combo and they were sometimes either a bit too short or long. I like to use a few different spoke length calculators, plus doing my own math and comparing lengths.

flyingmachine said:

Planning to build up a beater wheelset w/ some old parts(unused but vintage). Unfortunately, according to my friend who calculated the spoke lengths, the spokes I got are either 1 or 2 mm too long or too short. Is 1 or 2 mm that critical? tks!

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Lots of spoke stockers stock only even length spokes. So if we round up or down to the closest mm (I always round up unless it's really close to the shorter size) we could be almost 2mm out. I'd think 2mm is the max you'd want to go.