We've heard a lot from the resurgent Ace Frehley, whether he's shooting down Kiss myths, sharing his solo philosophy, or admitting he should have practiced more as he promotes raucous new album 10,000 Volts.
But there's a reason we keep Frehley on speed-dial: the guy has truly seen and done it all.
So when we quizzed him on his greatest gear hits and misses, we knew there would be gold buried in them there conversations. And gold Frehley most certainly delivered…
What was the first serious guitar you bought with your own money?
“My dad got me a piece of crap, and then I got a Hagstrom, which had much better action, but I didn’t like the pickup; it didn’t have the power of a humbucker because it had single-coil pickups. After that, I got a Telecaster, but that didn’t last too long.
“Then I got a Mustang that I modified and put a humbucker in. I got a Marshall, and that was the sound I’d been looking for. Once we [Kiss signed our record deal with Casablanca Records, I got a Honeyburst Les Paul and a Marshall stack – and we were off to the races.”
What was the last guitar you bought, and why?
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“It was a Gibson Les Paul. It’s a very slight blue metallic, almost like my nail polish [laughs]. I picked up that guitar on Reverb and it sounds fabulous. I recorded with that on my new record, [10,000 Volts]. When you get something good – I mean, like a good Les Paul – all set up correctly, and into a Marshall amp, it’s a no-brainer. You don’t have to use any special effects if you have the technique, so I rarely use special effects.”
What’s the most incredible find or bargain you’ve had when buying a guitar?
“I bought a 1952 Telecaster in the original case, which was like cardboard with the tags. It was in completely mint condition. I remember talking to the guy I got it from, and he said he got it from a woman whose son went off to war.
“Unfortunately, he never came back, so she had it under his bed and didn’t know what it was worth. Today, that guitar… Well, I sold it for a lot of money, but it today would probably be worth anywhere from $350,000 or more.”
Have you ever sold a guitar that you intensely regret letting go?
“Supposedly, the ’59 Les Paul I bought before recording my [1978] solo album is now up to $350,000 or more. That was the biggest regret.
“It was after I quit Kiss; I was still getting fucked up and I wanted to go to Atlantic City because I love to gamble. So I booked the helicopter on the West Side [of New York City], where they have those helipads, and I stopped at Richie Friedman’s We Buy [Guitars] and sold it. But I had got it from his brother across the street, who had a small store and had it in the window.
“A lot of the varnish had faded; I played it and instantly fell in love with it. He charged me four grand for it. It’s amazing how guitars appreciate.
You can always make a shitty amp sound decent. But you gotta have the guitar; that’s the nucleus
“You know, when I sign any guitar I buy, it doubles or triples in price. So I can always make money on any guitar I’ve bought that I want to sell. Just because I got too many, I have more than 120 guitars here and I just want to get rid of some of them. When I was on the Alice Cooper tour [in 2022], I was going crazy hitting pawn shops; I must have bought 35 guitars!”
To that end, what’s the strongest case of buyer’s remorse you’ve ever had when buying a guitar?
“Right now, all my guitar cases are in my attic. I have an 8,000sqft house with a huge attic, and all my cases are up there. I keep the boxes for the important outboard gear, speakers and stuff that I have in my recording studio. I’ve got my guitars all over the house: in my office, down in my studio, up in my bedroom, hanging on the walls. I don’t regret any of them and can always make money on them if I sign one.”
When was the last time you stopped to look in a guitar shop or browsed online, and what were you looking at?
“I’m really not looking at buying anything. I probably have 20 acoustics, and eight of those 20 are 12-strings. I’ve got Les Pauls, Strats and Telecasters; they just decorate the walls of my studio. I walk into pawn shops and, depending on where you are, the best ones tend to be down south. A lot of people there don’t know what they’re worth.
“I bought a Keith Richards model, you know, with the humbucker, for like 300 bucks. It’s probably worth at least a grand. And then, if I sign that, I could sell it for two thousand. But I really liked the guitar, so I’m probably going to keep that one. I also bought a Danelectro guitar inside the case with the amp, like the ones they had at Sears. I found one of those. It’s always the coolest guitars you look out for when you’re a collector.”
Would you rather have a great guitar and a cheap amp or a great amp and a cheap guitar?
“The guitar is what makes the sound, so you can take a cheap amp, use overdrive and make it sound decent. You can also use a fuzz box or a sustaining pedal, so you can always make a shitty amp sound halfway decent. But you gotta have the guitar; that’s the nucleus.”
If you could only use humbuckers or single coils for the rest of your career, which would you choose and why?
“Humbuckers give you more output. If you put them on a voltmeter, they definitely put out more voltage, which, when amplified, will give you a louder, more powerful, more distorted sound. In conjunction with the preamp on a Marshall or any other amp that has a preamp, that will also give you distortion and sustain. It’s just about getting the right amp. And if you tweak it properly, it can get you where you want to go.
“My sound isn’t very complicated. But I do like single coils. I’ve learned over the years that if you record a rhythm track with a Les Paul, you can make it nice and thick, then double it with a Fender Strat or a Telecaster. You end up with an even thicker track because the harmonic range of a single coil is a lot different than a humbucker.”
Ace’s go-to rig
“You know, my rig hasn’t changed much since the ’70s with Kiss. I don’t really use pedals; I never really did, save for a few times here and there. But really, you know, my sound has always been, and kinda really still is, my Les Paul plugged into a cranked Marshall.
“I have a Fender Tweed and guitars all over my studio, and I’ll use different guitars on my records for layering, but live, I’m all about my Les Paul. I plug that into my Marshall with no effects; I’d trip over them if I had them on stage [laughs].”
