Guitarshop

Ace Frehley Talks Gear
Guitar Shop, October 1996

"Onstage I blow up things, my guitar smokes like in the old days and I do a lot of other special effects with the guitar. I have one guitar that lights up like a movie marquee and I shoot rockets off the end of another guitar. I also blow up some amplifiers now and then. I guess I'm sort of forerunner in the area of special effects" - Ace Frehley

Kiss recently embarked on a highly anticipated reunion tour that promises to net them enough dough to summer home in rock 'n' roll heaven. Of course, the makeup reunion tour is especially delicious for the thousands of musicians whose passion for their craft was ignited by Kiss-especially lead guitarist Ace Frehley. Many feel that Frehley's guitar chops are the only reason Kiss should be taken seriously. Frehley recently took time out from Kiss' hectic tour rehearsals to give readers the Skinny on his coolest gear and other tantalizing Kissbits. Here's what went down.

What gear did you use when you first began playing guitar?

Ace Frehley: I grew up in a three room apartment in the Bronx. I had a little Ampeg amp, a Hagstrom guitar and a fuzzbox, so could get a decent sound at a lower volume without blowing the neighbors out. I played guitar four or five hours a day.

Tell us about your new signature model Les Paul.

Ace Frehley: Well it's still in negotiation, but I'd say it will happen before the end of the year. Basically, it's going to be an identical copy of the three-pickup, cherry sunburst Les Paul Custom that I'm known for. The cherry is about a 73 or 74, but I got it around 76. The only difference is going to be the top wood. It's to be flame-top maple. The only problem is that I always use double-cream Dimarzio Super Distortion pickups and Larry Dimarzio has the patent on that. Gibson wants me to use Gibson pick ups.

Kiss has a long history with Larry Dimarzio. Was he making oickups for you before he hit the big time?

Ace Frehley: Larry has was hand winding pickups for me in his bedroom before Kiss even made their first album! Then, for the first album Kiss album I probably put a Dimarzio PAF or Super Distortion in my tobacco sunburst Les Paul. I'd never fuck with an old Les Paul though-I always left in the original PAFs.

Have you ever acquired any new guitars since rejoining Kiss?

Ace Frehley: I'll be getting one of the first cherry sunburst double necks Gibson has ever made. We're going to be doing "Rock Bottom" live, and I wrote that beginning part on a 12 string acoustic guitar. I told Gibson I wanted a cherry double neck, and the head of the Custom Shop said, "We only make a doubleneck in mahogany but we can bleach the wood." They bleached the wood for me, so I can get more of that bright yellow in the middle for a cherry sunburst. Also Nadine's Guitars here in L.A. is making me a duplicate of my Les Paul "Light" guitar to use for "New York Groove." The original guitar was a 57 Les Paul Junior that I bastardized. This new guitar that was sent to the people at Nadine's was an exact duplicate of a '57 Junior-neck measurements and everything -from the Gibson Custom Shop. Hopefully, they're going to feel the same. It felt great when I picked it up before they putting the electronics in. Gibson is also making me an exact duplicate of my black Les Paul Custom "Smoker" guitar. Both of those guitars have been through the mill, you know? They've been refretted and rewired, and the necks have been straightened I don't know how many times!

Who originally built your Gibson Les Paul "Light" guitar?

Ace Frehley: A guy named John Robeson, who lives in Massachusetts. He's a car salesman-he sells Jags! He's kind of like a rocket scientist and always seems like he's somewhere else, but the guy is brilliant. Inside the "Light" guitar is a circuit board that John custom designed. It works off 20 C-batteries and a shitload of bulbs. There's a computer built inside it that makes it chase in different directions and different patterns. When I realized that I preferred the one that went across the guitar from left to right, I sopped using the other patterns. Eventually, I ended up taping up the switches so I wouldn't hit them by accident. The new one I'm getting is supposedly a new and improved version; they're using halogen bulbs. Halogen bulbs weren't available at the time when John built the guitar.

You used '60's and '70's Marshall amps on many classic Kiss albums. What did you like about the 70's Marshalls?

Ace Frehley: The ones with the Master Volume were a help, especially in the studio when you're having a problem with overdriving a mic. With the earlier Marshalls, you couldn't get that distortion unless you really cranked them. We had to put them in an isolation booth and use mics that were able to take it.

What other amps do you use in the studio besides Marshalls?

Ace Frehley: In the studio, I usually use smaller amps. My favorite old Fernder Harvard with the one 12" speaker. I've also used old Ampeg SVT's, and I've used Laneys for years too.