Nothing at all wrong with using a guided system, I own one, but I must say I'm not a fan of the angle-rigidity of tools like the Sharpmaker. Although a Lanksy rod system only has a few angle selections, it is till more than the Sharpmaker. If you do get the Lanksy rod system, be mindful of not letting the rod bounce around in the slot. Again, nothing at all wrong with this system to start on. That's a narrow bladed knife (spine to edge) so not sure if there would be clamp issues, no experience there.
That said, I'm going to go against the grain and ask why do you think you are "terrible" at stone sharpening? The fundamentals are not bad to learn, but all too often, people just don't understand the fundamentals. It's more of an education thing than it is an art. At least just getting a working edge. Yes, some of us go down a rabbit hole and start debating and pondering and testing different media for different steels and on and on, but the fundamentals of putting a free hand edge on a knife that will perform well is not that hard to learn.
I don't own any CV steel but understanding is it's basically 10XX type steel with a little chrome and vanadium tossed in. That should make it very receptive to sharpening. Some folks will think I'm nuts but I'd say consider getting a 6"x2" combination Soft and Hard Arkansas stone. If you use your Google-fu and shop around you can find them for about $25-30. Get yourself a 4oz bottle of honing oil and a red Sharpie. Use the Sharpie (or whatever permanent marker) to color just the edge bevel. Try to feel for the angle on the stone but don't stress it too hard to start. Just give that angle a good look and imagine what that looks like coming off a flat surface. Lightly run your knife down the Soft stone, slightly curling up toward the tip so that edge bevel stays in contact with the stone. Do that a couple times and have a look at your edge. If more marker is gone near the shoulder (spine side) then you're laying the knife too flat. If more is gone along the cutting edge but not the shoulder, then you're pulling it up too steep. Re-mark and adjust and try again. Light pressure, a few strokes, check. Try to maintain constant angle but just relax, trying too hard can cause shaking and such. Relax. If you get flustered, just stop. No big deal. Come at it later. But, eventually, you'll find yourself taking the marker off the entire width of the edge.
Now, there might be some small spots along the edge that are a little wonky but that is just the difference in the company's sharpening method and your hand. It'll sort itself out over a few sessions. Lightly work on side until you feel the burr along the edge that is opposite the stone, the side facing you. Once you feel that along the entire edge, you're good to go. Now the other side, just like before, starting with the marker. I like to take one or two strokes on that side before I mark, just to knock the burr down a touch. Do the same thing. Once you have a burr along the entire edge on that side, start doing single strokes per side. Stroke, flip, stroke, flip, etc. Maybe a dozen or times.
Do not be concerned with speed. All that matters is angle. Keep your stone oiled, light pressure and focus on angle. If you want you can repeat those same actions on the Hard stone but not until you have it sharp off the Soft.
Practice on a pairing knife. Although if it's already really dull the Arkansas stones might not be course enough to raise a burr.
Maybe get the Lanksy and the freehand stone. Then you'll have the system to fall back on if you find yourself struggling with freehand. But you can do it and the folks here are more than willing to help and there's tons of good info to be found out there on the big ole interwebs.