SAX EDUCATION: Even with budget cuts in...

SAX EDUCATION: Even with budget cuts in school music programs across the county, there is still plenty of interest in playing such instruments as the trumpet, flute and violin. . . . Anaheim Band Instruments, the county’s largest renter to fledging musicians, said it rents some 1,000 assorted instruments a month and it has seen no drop in recent years. The most popular instrument until recently? The violin. But, in these days of Bill Clinton and his MTV jam session, “it’s definitely the alto sax,” said store office manager Anne Green.

BEAT GENERATION: No one is quite sure which music store is Orange County’s oldest, but Pedrini Music Merchant, with three O.C. locations, seems to be a good contender. . . . It was established in 1938 by Thomas Pedrini Sr. as a sheet music and radio store. It now sells high-tech synthesizers, guitars and sound systems as well as classical instruments. Rosita Pedrini, 56, a classical guitarist and Thomas’ widow, remembers fondly the days before there were “so many gadgets and computers. I still like the old-time music the best.”

AUTOPHILE: Ray Choi, owner of Grace Music store in Garden Grove, has made a name for himself selling one of America’s most traditional instruments. The Korean-born gospel singer is the nation’s top retail Autoharp salesman, selling an estimated 200 a year. . . . “We refer to Ray as the Autoharp evangelist,” said Tom Ferrone of Illinois-based Autoharp maker Oscar Schmidt International. Choi attributes his sales prowess to his love of the Autoharp: “It has a beautiful, natural sound.”

MUSICAL INTRO: The county’s newest music store is an old shop with a change in name and direction. The Keyboard Shop, which sold only pianos and organs, closed in Laguna Hills and moved last month to bigger digs in Laguna Niguel. . . . Now called Niguel Music Center, the store added everything from electric guitars and drums to sheet music and band instruments. “The keyboard industry is so up and down,” said manager Kurt Hamernik. “We are now full service.”