Guitarists who play live frequently have to change strings, adjust tremolo bars, and generally tweak their guitars on the fly, often in the middle of a gig--if there isn't a backup instrument handy, occasionally even in the middle of a song!

The Journeyman Guitar Tool, built by JP Tools for Farley's Musical Essentials is a handy little product that performs all of those functions. It combines a string-cutting tool, a bridge pin removing tool for acoustic guitars, Philips and flathead screw drivers, and four different set screw wrenches in a small, handy Swiss Army Knife-sort of shape that comes with its own black nylon carrying case, designed to fit on a belt.

The string cutter works great--its carbide blade is certainly sharp enough to handle thick wound strings, and their thin uncoated cousins. The screwdrivers and wrenches pull out slightly stiffly at first, but become easy to open and retract with repeated use.

If there's a fault with the product, it lies in its holster. The Journeyman tool fits very tight into it, and may be more trouble than it's worth trying to pull it out of the case and then re-holster it, especially in a darkened environment, such as a club. Many guitarists (or their roadies) may simply wish to toss the Journeyman tool into a guitar case or equipment bag rather than bothering with its holster.

But that's a pretty minor complaint. With most electric guitars, string breakage is a matter of when, and not if. If you play out on a regular basis, you could certainly do far worse than to keep the Journeyman Guitar tool handy for just such an emergency.