I agree with you all regarding the books for wheelbuilding, my preference being the Brandt book. But I'm going to throw a different name in the hat for a truing stand. I used Park in bike shops for nearly twenty years, found them to rarely hold their centering adjustment, so always used a dishing tool along with the "automatic centering" and expensive Pro shop stand. In recent years, Trek, with help from Snap-On brought out some tools under the Wrench Force brand, and the Wrench Force truing stand (not sure if there are more than one model) is THE stand to have in my opinion. Higher quality, tighter tolerances, and lights that flash as the feeler touches the rim to let you see the extent and duration of a "wobble" better. Having said all that, I can't find one. Have seen two on ebay in the past year, lost both. Wish I'd kept the one from my shop! Anybody got one? Also, Pedros just came to market with a decent truing stand (along with some other nice shop quality tools, look there for a headset press) My .02 worth.
Greg Overton
Finally seeing the sun in
Logan, Utah