Yea, I used to use hacks such as a stack of books for a dishing tool and a bolt taped to brake pads or frame to help true but once you use a real truing stand, dishing tool and a spoke tension meter, you won't go back.
Now don't hate on me, but for those that think they can pluck a spoke and come up with a consistent quantitative value, find someone with a good spoke tension meter and be prepared to see how poorly you'll do. That being said, you don't need that type of accuracy to produce a decent wheel set and I'm sure there are those that have built a thousand wheel sets that might be able to achieve reasonable accuracy by plucking, but when Mavic recommends spoke tension between 70-90 kgf or 90-110 kgf to be used with their rims, you'll know you did it right.