How much is too much - spokes protruding into the rim I just received a pair of wheels that I ordered online. They are a replacement for a 1940'es vintage bike that now only takes "wulst"-type tires, which are only available in very poor quality at very high prices. The rims are of the Westwood type.

The front wheel looks perfect, with all spokes being a bit shorter than the nipples.

But on the rear wheel almost all the spokes protrude clearly into the (single wall) rim. Most of them just a bit, but maybe 10-15 of them seem more than 0.5 mm too long and I measured the worst 4-5 of them to protrude around 1.5 mm. 

Surely rim tape will cover some protrusion, but how much? Will rim tape be enough to protect the tubes from this or should I go through the hassle of returning the wheel? 

I'd really prefer to just slap them on the bike and not think too much about it, but on the other hand I bought these wheels to get better tires and fewer flats.

Here is an example from the rear wheel:


A few more photos here http://imgur.com/a/DLsXp

Here is what the front wheel looks like.
That is poorly built and unacceptable (in my book) as a paid for product.  If all of the spokes are protruding some, and several more than others, it means that the wrong length spokes were used.  

The reasons for this may or may not be the wheelbuilders fault, it's possible that some component of the wheel build had incorrectly listed sizing and the spoke length calculation was off because of it (component manufacturer fault).   However, it's also possible that the wheel builder didn't have the proper size spokes.  The right way to do it in that case would be to take longer spokes and run them through a spoke cutter to get the proper length.  

In the first case, rather than rebuild the wheel the extra spoke should have been filed down to the level of the nipple.  This is acceptable as long as there is enough thread left to properly true the wheel.  If too much is sticking out the wheel will need to be rebuilt or it will likely fail at a future truing when the nipple no long has enough threading to secure purchase on the spoke.  

If the second case is true, and the builder doesn't have a spoke cutter and didn't want to order the proper size, I'm calling foul and would not send future business to them.

Unrelated to all that, it may be possible to get a rim strip thick enough to sufficiently protect your tube, but you really shouldn't have to go to that trouble.