Ace Frehley - Performance Style

Performance Style

Ace Frehley is noted for using Gibson Les Paul guitars with three DiMarzio pickups. Typically, one Super Distortion pickup in the bridge position and two PAF pickups; one in the middle position and one in the neck position. Only the pickup in the bridge/treble position was actually wired to produce sound; being wired directly to the volume control, skipping the tone control and then directly to the output jack.

Gibson has marketed two versions of Frehley's own signature Les Paul models. The first coming on the heels of Kiss' Reunion tour in 1997. This run actually featured 315 guitars, all built by the Gibson Custom Shop, in 1996 and 1997. There were two prototype guitars that were hand-built by Gibson's master luthier, Phil Jones. One was built off of the Les Paul Custom platform and is serialized as "ACE 1" and the second was built on the Les Paul Standard platform and is serialized as "ACE 2". Both guitars were unveiled at the winter NAMM show, in 1997 with the goal of having the public determine which platform would be used to produce this new guitar. The Les Paul Custom platform won out and the planned run of 300 Gibson Custom Shop guitars, commonly referred to now as "The 300", was sold-out, before production had even begun. Ace Frehley's contract with Gibson provided him with thirteen, exclusive guitars that featured a custom serialization of "AFS 001" through "AFS 013". Ace would use some these guitars for his remaining tenure with Kiss and also during his solo years that followed. The first guitars available to the public, from the Gibson Custom Shop featured inked on serial numbers as "ACE 001" through "ACE 300". 500 guitars were built by Gibson USA between 1997 and 2001, employing standard, Gibson, 8-digit serialization and finally 1,000 guitars built by Epiphone, between 1997 and 2008. All of Ace Frehley's signature model guitars were finished in Gibson's Heritage Cherry Sunburst finish with the exception of the Epiphone models. These would also be released in a Black Burst finish and a very limited run of 'Japan-only' guitars finished in the Silver Flake / Blue Burst finish.

In summer 2011, Gibson began production of an exact replica of Ace Frehley's original 1974 Heritage Cherry Sunburst Les Paul Custom which is one of the most iconic and recognizable Les Paul guitars. This new model was called the Ace Frehley "Budokan" Les Paul Custom. Again it would feature three DiMarzio pickups; one Super Distortion and two PAFs. Again, there would be three facilities building the new Budokan guitars; Gibson Custom Shop, Gibson USA and Epiphone. There was a total of 301, Gibson Custom shop models that were built in three different variations. There were 51, Aged & Signed versions built. On December 12, 2011, Ace personally signed and serialized each of these 51 guitars with his signature and an individual number, in his hand-writing. Of these 51 guitars, only 50 were made available to the public, those being "Ace Frehley #2" through "Ace Frehley #51". Although it was built and does in fact exist, "Ace Frehley #1" was not made available to the public. Additionally, there were 100 guitars built and Aged to replicate the exact wear and tear seen on Ace's original guitar. These guitars would feature an inked on serial number sequence that read "Ace Frehley 001" through "Ace Frehley 100". Finally, there were 150 Vintage Old Stock or VOS versions built that used the same construction techniques and materials that were employed when Ace's original guitar had been built, in 1974. These guitars were serialized with inked on serial numbers that read "AFB 001" through "AFB 150". Gibson USA would produce 500 Budokan guitars in late 2011 and early 2012, that utilized modern building techniques, intentionally ommitting the binding on the back side of the guitar; a feature that is typically found on the Les Paul Custom model. Newer, environmentally friendly materials such as richlite took the place of the ebony, typically found on the fingerboard of the Les Paul Custom. Epiphone was again contracted to produce 1,000 Budokan guitars, beginning in 2012.

Frehley came up with his trademark "smoking guitar trick" on one of the first Kiss tours in Canada. Frehley placed a smoke bomb in the compartment of his Les Paul where the volume and tone controls are located and lit it by hand, causing the smoke to come out through the humbucker pickups. After a couple of times, the smoke started to gum up the volume and tone controls and it stopped working. As a result, Frehley had to find a way to avoid this; after an alternative technique was found, the smoke stunt has remained a part of his act. Frehley also played a guitar whose body was covered in LEDs, as well as having invented the infamous rocket set-up that shoots firework rockets into the air. It came from an earlier idea that he had of a fiber optic wire running up the neck of his guitar to a laser at the top of the guitar to "blow up things." However, Frehley took out the wire and put rockets on.