Defintely need a tool. HOWEVER, I found what is an admittedly fairly cheap plastic set of pitch gauges that are ok. Not great, but for $20, it's not a bad accessory to have. YOu have to be careful and they are finicky, but I have had 2 pro shops locally that can't agree on pitches, and think having this set is a low cost way of getting a pretty darn good idea....