Ace Frehley

Ace has a long standing relationship using Gibson Les Paul guitars and this is his first signature model from 1997.

Ace Frehley used this guitar in the early years of KISS.

Ace Frehley purchased and started using this Les Paul in 1976, and its history is documented here.

Ace Frehly can be seen playing his signature Washburn in the "Into the Night" music video, at 2:09.

Halfway down the page you can see a photo of Ace playing a Greco MR800 or MR1000 on tour in '77.

In this interview with Ace, the gear column mentions he used the "Budokan" during the recording and tour of Space Invader.

Ace Frehley's Explorer was an Ibanez 2459 "Lawsuit". Paul Stanley gave him at some point in the Spring of 1976. Ace hasn'y any Gibson Explorer. The Gibson Explorer used on Paul Lynde Show's Halloween Special in October 1976, was a real Explorer that Gibson provided for the show.

Ace Frehley used an Ovation Breadwinner on the 1st KISS album. He also played an Epiphone Coronet during his Honey/Molimo days before KISS.

Ace Frehley "I used to play an Epiphone when I was about 18, 19, kind of like the Steve Marriott model he used in Humble Pie."

Ace got 1959 Les Paul in 1978 from a guy call Gary Zamory. He used it to record all track of his first solo album when he was in Kiss.

In this video, you can see Ace was using his double neck SG. It may only made for Ace with cherry burst. He only used in Kiss reunion tour. Also used in "Fractured Mirror"

A thin 'Dirty Lemon Frehley Burst' finish and accurate aging join vintage-spec plastics, hide glue construction, rolled fingerboard binding and Custom Bucker and Burst Bucker #3 pickups in an incomparable Les Paul.

In the video is shown a Gibson Blueburst Les Paul that has been seen & used since 2009, though the date of creation has not been specified. This guitar is one of the current guitars that are Ace's "Go to" guitars for live performances, as well as music videos.

Created in 1979 by Steve Carr, this guitar was used on tour for primarily songs like "New York Groove", it was only usually used for one song during concerts because the battery pack could only keep enough life in it for roughly five minutes.

This guitar is primarily used as the successor to Ace's original light up guitar that was used in the late 70's.

Ace Frehley played this Gibson Les Paul classic live at Poughkeepsie NY 1992, as seen in this source video.

Ace Frehley's Explorer was an Ibanez 2459 "Lawsuit". Paul Stanley gave him at some point in the Spring of 1976. Ace hasn'y any Gibson Explorer. The Gibson Explorer used on Paul Lynde Show's Halloween Special in October 1976, was a real Explorer that Gibson provided for the show.

This page is the definitive source for Ace guitars and towards the bottom middle, it shows him using the unique "mini Explorer". Among other guitars featured on that page. But that one is my fave.

Designed by Clifford Travis Bean, Marc McElwee & Gary Kramer (who went on to form Kramer guitars in 1975). These guitars featured Koa wood 'wings' with a machined alumnum neck that ran right through the body. Humbucker pickups were mounted to/in the aluminum. As I mentioned above, the issue with these guitars was that the aluminum neck was horrible for touring musicians and didn't handle the cold temperatures very well.

The Veleno guitars were built in St. Petersburgh, Florida beginning in 1974. Their claim to fame was an "Almag 35" neck that "was not subject to change due to humidity or temperature" and a body "machined from 2 solid aircraft structural aluminum blocks". The theory of the aluminum body was that it was shielded from any/all outside, electrical interference.

In this photo, Ace is playing his Gibson Flying V.

Ace used PR7E for Kiss unplug show in 1996. This is only once you can see Ace use acoustic guitar on show before '00s

"I’ve been doing that since my first solo record. I had a couple of old Teles and Strats lying around, and I discovered it just created a great blend. Since they all have completely different harmonic ranges, they can create a much fuller sound when mixed in with each other. You can also get a lot of different sounds, depending on how you split them in the mix. I also discovered that I’ll play something slightly different on a Strat or Tele than I would on my Les Paul, simply because of the difference in the body and fingerboards. If you double something on each of those guitars, it’s slightly different in the way you finger it. When you put them together, that little difference makes it that much better. I remember recording Destroyer with Bob Ezrin, and he told me to knock my guitar a little out of tune before I did a double because the frequencies would make a rub with each other. And it really worked!"

Ace used a Fender Telecaster Deluxe to record most of the solos for the 1st KISS Album

"Here are some edited comments about the earliest two '59 Reissues by one of the Strings and Things owners."They made two and sent them. They were all wrong. The cutaway was just totally whacked out. I called this guy back at the Custom Shop....I said these Les Pauls, they look beautiful, but the body shape is all wrong. He didn't want to go for that. So he says he'll mail me the blueprints of the original Les Paul."The blueprints arrive in the mail. He lays the guitars on the blueprint. "It's wrong. So I call him back and tell him we've got to try it again. They built six at that point, which were the first six we got. I don't count those first two because we didn't keep 'em."Strings & Things were getting a reputation as the store to visit in Memphis. They got to know the guys in Kiss. First time through Memphis, Kiss had played a small gig; next time around they came back as stars. They dropped by the store, and were keen to show a couple of really cool Les Pauls that Gibson had given them."They open the cases up--and it's those two Les Pauls that are just goofy. They can't tell the difference, so we didn't say anything. We said oh, those are great".I guess Paul Stanley's will surface some day too!"

You can see Ace Frehley own 1962 Gibson SG in 1978 when he was in Kiss.

In this picture Ace Frehley plays on his Yamaha CJ-8X Country Jumbo Model 1981 Vintage. Also he used this Yamaha in a music video of the song "A World Without Heroes"