Send me an email at donaldsauter@gmail.com.

If you have a question for me about something you own, like a guitar, a record album, a piece of guitar music, etc., see my advice further down first.

Have a look at my current guestbook. I have also archived my first guestbook, jam-packed with funny and thought-provoking comments.

To add your comments to my guestbook, simply email your guestbook entry to me and make it clear that it is for my guestbook. I will add it to the top of the list. I know from years' worth of experience that people are reluctant to sign a guestbook via an email message. Or, more likely, the thrill of the web has worn off and nobody fools with guestbooks anymore. Or more likely yet, nobody can find personal sites like this anymore, what with three billion hits coming up first trying to sell you whatever you typed into google. If you want to sign a guestbook, for old times' sake, don't be shy!

I often get emailed questions along the lines of, "Do you have any information on this [guitar, record, piece of music, etc.] that I have?" I like to be helpful, but the fact is that it's very unlikely I would know anything about your item. I find myself giving the same advice to most people who ask, so it makes sense to put it here.

After a basic web search for pages mentioning your item, the best place (that I know of) is eBay. Everybody is familiar with eBay, but you might not be aware of just how incredible it is. Everything under the sun gets sold on eBay, at least occasionally, if not regularly. Also, you might not know about the "saved search" feature. What you can do is run a search on eBay; "save" that search; and have eBay email you every time an auction comes along with your search terms. What to do, step by step, is:

1. Go to eBay's main page, www.ebay.com .

2. Do NOT use that search box; click on "Smart Search" just beneath it.

3. Click on "Search titles and descriptions". (I rarely want to search just the titles.)

4. Fill in the box with your search terms, and hit "Search".

5. When the page of hits come up, go to the bottom and click on "Save this search." Follow the rest of the instructions. You'll have to sign in, and then you'll find yourself on your "Favorites" page, in the section called "My Favorite Searches". Instruct eBay to "Email me when new items appear" by clicking the appropriate box and hitting "Submit". Then sit back and wait for eBay to notify you when such an auction comes along. Isn't the internet still amazing?

Sellers generally include lots of good information in their auctions. If there's still a need, you could contact him with your question. At least you'll get an idea of the value of the item when the auction is completed.

Another thing that comes to mind is the Google discussion groups. Go to Google, click on "groups", enter your search terms to see if your item has ever been discussed, or if there is an appropriate discussion group to pose your question to.

Oct 2004: I notice how often I tout Google in this page. I like to brag that I was one of the first to discover Google, and immediately went around telling everybody how great this new search engine is. That was in late 1998, just a few months after Google first appeared in its test mode. It beat the others hands-down from the start - and that was when it was still automatically OR-ing your search terms. [Dec 2006 note: I've just read an article from 1998 about Google. It says clearly that Google automatically ANDs your search terms. Is this yet another instance of something I was positive about, yet turned out to be wrong? Man, I'm tired of that.]

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Parents, if you're considering tutoring or supplemental education for your child, you may be interested in my observations on Kumon.