Guitar World Interview May 1997

Guitar World May 1997

Firmly believing that less is more, Ace Frehley jettisoned some of his finest sunburst But he's still got lots of Pauls. In the late Seventies, vintage guitar dealers were known to jump with joy when they got wind that Kiss was coming to town. Like a pillaging warrior, Ace Frehley would scour the pawnshops and used musical instrument stores, and at the end of the day would walk away with the best guitars tucked under his spoils in the arms.

He stored his spoils in the basement of his castle-like home in Connecticut, until it was over-flowing with Gibsons, Fenders, Martins and every other desirable model imaginable. There were gorgeous Flying V's, immaculate late-Fifties Les Pauls, rare double neck mutations and sweet flattops. Every once in a playing Les Pauls again. while, Ace would venture downstairs to clutch one of these fair beauties in his hands and gently stroke its curves.

But one day in the mid Eighties, Ace's lust for his hard-wood harem suddenly disappeared. While it remains uncertain whether this all was the result of an alcohol-soaked haze to the body, or his diminishing income resulting from his hat, in conjunction with some good departure from Kiss, the fact is that Ace started unloading guitars like a possessed man trying to purge his demons.

All but his most beloved axes were sold for grossly undervalued prices, disappearing into the sweaty hands of salivating collectors and Kiss fans.

Whereas most guitarists would cry like Jim Bakker peeling onions at the bitter memories, Ace expresses no regrets when he talks about his losses and former excesses. Relaxing on a couch in his hotel room in Sydney, Australia, nowadays Ace is content to spend his pre-show hours kicking back in front of a television instead of pounding the pavement looking for deals in pawnshops.

But that doesn't mean that he's lost his interest in guitars. "Have you seen my new Gibson model?" he asks as he pulls a flame-top three pickup cherry sunburst Les Paul from a case. The headstock features a likeness of his makeup-covered visage and the fret board is inlaid with lightning bolt-shaped fret markers. Obviously, this is the coveted Ace Frehley signature model. "They debuted it at the winter NAMM show, and it sold out in an hour," he says with the pride of a father speaking of a newborn son. Throughout our conversation, Ace speaks freely about his love affair with the Les Paul, which burns as intense as ever. But there's an ever-present nostalgia in his voice when he reminisces about the ones that got away. Now that Ace's good fortunes have returned, one can only wonder if he will suffer from a relapse and start building up his collection again.

GUITAR WORLD: What guitars do you have in your collection now?

ACE FREHLEY: Years ago I was heavily into collecting guitars, not anymore. The vintage guitar market is so up and down lately. Basically I have 25 different Les Pauls, a bunch of acoustics some Fenders. I used to have about 150 guitars, but I dumped about 100 of them when the vintage guitar market dropped out in the Eighties, when Eddie Van Halen was really popular and everybody was playing guitars with Floyd Roses. Now everyone's playing Les Pauls again.

GUITAR WORLD: What is your attraction to the Les Paul?

ACE FREHLEY: I don't know what it is about a Les Paul. If you take a Fender guitar and lay it down on a table, it will lay flat. You can't lay a Les Paul flat on a table because the neck is set at an angle to the body, which creates a tension that helps give it sustain. That, in conjunction with some good fucking pickups and the dense of the body-it's probably one heaviest guitars made-really ass. To me, it's the best rock I guitar in the world. It always has been. All you have to do is plug it into a Marshall, turn it up to 10 and you're happening.

GUITAR WORLD: When you first joined Kiss you weren't playing a Les Paul, but a Firebird 1.

ACE FREHLEY: When I auditioned for Kiss, I walked in with a Firebird with a single pickup and banjo tuning pegs. But once we got signed, I picked up a tobacco sunburst Les Paul and a 100-watt Marshall stack. Basically I've been using Les Pauls and Marshalls all through my Kiss career. When I left Kiss, I used Laney amps and Washburn guitars for a short period of time. They designed a special lightning bolt guitar for me. It looked cool, but unfortunately it sounded like shit. I played it for a couple of songs, and then I'd say to my guitar tech, "Give me my Les Paul. I can't deal with this." I've been playing Les Pauls ever since. For a while I used a guitar with a wang bar-a Washburn Wonder Bar tremolo system, not a Floyd Rose-but I realized that it was starting to affect my technique. It's a lot easier to hit a wang bar than to deal with your fingers. I ended up pulling that off my guitar around 1990, and since then I've played mainly stock Les Paul Customs and Standards.

GUITAR WORLD: When did you start using the three-pickup models?

ACE FREHLEY: I started with a two-pickup, tobacco sunburst Les Paul. Then, just after I got my cherry sunburst Custom, I turned that into a three-pickup model. It was probably around '75 or '76. I still have that guitar, and it's been to hell and back. The neck has cracked off a couple of times, the back is all scratched up, the finish is cracked, but it still sounds great. The new Les Paul that Gibson designed for me with the flame top and cherry sunburst is killer. I've been using that on the whole tour.

GUITAR WORLD: How did the new Ace Frehley model come about?

ACE FREHLEY: About two years ago, Gibson put out a set of Ace Frehley strings, and that worked out real well. Gibson became interested in putting out a guitar when they saw how successful this tour has been. Considering that I've always played Les Pauls and am known for playing a triple-pickup cherry sunburst, which Gibson doesn't make anymore, they thought it was a good idea to put out such a model with my name on it. I've got a deal that my guitar will be the only triple-pickup sunburst that Gibson is going to make. From what I understand, they're going to come out with three separate models-a high-end custom shop model, a mid-priced model made at the regular Gibson plant and an Epiphone Les Paul for the young kids who can't afford an expensive guitar. There will be an Ace Frehley guitar for everybody. I'm real excited about it. I can't wait until it hits the stores.

GUITAR WORLD: What is the best guitar you've ever owned?

ACE FREHLEY: It was probably my '59 flame top Standard. I bought it for $4,000, and I recorded every track on my first solo album with that guitar. Then, in 1985, I ended up hocking it for $6,000 while I was on my way to Atlantic City. I just felt lucky. I thought I was going to go down there, win a bunch of money and get the guitar out of hock. That didn't happen. I ended up losing about $20,000. Somehow, there was a misunderstanding. I thought I had six months to get the guitar out of hock, but the guy thought that I was selling it to him. Somebody snatched it up right away. I actually found the guy who bought it, and I had the chance to play it again. He had changed the nut from bone to metal and had done something to the frets. When I played it, it didn't feel like it used to. It didn't knock me out, so I didn't feel that bad that it wasn't mine anymore. One of my favorite guitars is still the cherry sunburst that I used with Kiss from the mid Seventies on. I think it's a '73 Custom. To me, that guitar is still the best guitar I've ever played.

GUITAR WORLD: Is there any guitar that you've always wanted but couldn't have?

ACE FREHLEY: Not really. I've owned just about every type of guitar made. These new ones that I've got from the Gibson Custom Shop are killer. Gibson is making Les Pauls better now than they've ever made them. I'm not just saying that because they're coming out with my signature model. I've been playing Les Pauls for more than 25 years, and I wasn't getting any money out of it.

GUITAR WORLD: Old Kiss album covers used to say, "Kiss uses Gibson because they want the best."

ACE FREHLEY: I've tried Paul Reed Smiths and all these guitars that offer all these different sounds. Their' advert states this guitar will sound like a Les Paul, a Strat or whatever. All of them sound real close, but to me there's nothing like a real Les Paul, especially when set up right. I use .011, .016, .026, .046 strings and Grov ing pegs with pearl and I set the action pretty high. I don't like a close action. When I play a guitar with a low action and try to break to a lead, a lot of times my finger will slip off the string because the callus on my finger is in the middle. For me to grab a string, it's got to be from 1/8- to 3/8-inch off the fret board so I can dig into it.

GUITAR WORLD: Besides your new Les Paul model, have you gotten any cool, new guitars recently?

ACE FREHLEY: When I was in Japan, Fernandes gave me this cherry sunburst Les Paul that is a copy of the one I use on The rhythm pickup has been replaced with a Sustainer unit. All you do is flip a toggle switch and it sustains forever. You can change the octave of the harmonic. It's very cool. Somebody sent me that pickup with instructions, but I never ended up installing it in anything. I think I'm going to put it in one of my black Les Pauls.

GUITAR WORLD: As such a confirmed Les Paul fanatic, why did you also collect Fenders?

ACE FREHLEY: I use Fenders in the studio- they're good for rhythm tracks. A Fender has a completely different harmonic range than a Les Paul. If I want to record a real thick-sounding rhythm part, I'll play the track with a Les Paul and then I'll use a Telecaster or Strat to double the track. Then I might use a doubling device to thicken it even more. You get a real wide spectrum of harmonics. Very rarely will I use a Fender to do a solo.

GUITAR WORLD: What kind of acoustic guitars do you own?

ACE FREHLEY: I have a couple of Guilds, some Yamahas and Martins. I also have some 12-strings. When Kiss was in Chicago I picked up an Ovation at a pawnshop.

GUITAR WORLD: What other guitars are in your collection?

ACE FREHLEY: I've got a Stenberger and an early Precision Bass that I used on my solo album [Ace Frehley (Casablanca 1978)]. I played bass on that entire album except for two songs where Will Lee played. Gene gave me one of his Punisher basses which isn't bad sounding. There's probably five or 10 guitars collecting dust in my basement. I don't keep track of all that stuff. I've got three or four lockers filled with equipment. There's stuff in the Kiss locker in L.A., and I've got equipment stored in upstate New York and in my house in Connecticut. It's all over the place. I really should get my inventory together, but I'm always so busy and on the run. Since I rejoined Kiss it's been like a roller coaster ride. Before we went on the road, we were rehearsing 7 days a week and working out with professional trainers. The touring schedule has been just as hectic. I just came from Japan, and now were in Australia. We're coming back to the States for 30 or 40 shows, doing some shows in Mexico and South America and in the summer were heading to Europe again to headline all the festivals. Then there's talk about maybe going into the studio and doing an album. But whatever the future holds, right now I've got my hands full.