Gibson Custom 2011 Ace Frehley Les Paul Custom Hand-Aged & Signed Electric Guitar Heritage Cherry Sunburst

When KISS hit the stage at Nippon Budokan in Japan in 1977 with guitarist Ace Frehley behind a Cherry Sunburst, three-pickup 1974 Les Paul Custom, the entire package”band, guitarist, guitar”embodied the height of glam-rock excess and success for the 70s. This was the ultimate marriage of pop and heavy rock, driven to meteoric heights by the record industry marketing machine, and ultimately attaining that otherworldly presence that great stadium rock should achieve: unbridled fantasy and party-hard reality rolled into one glorious explosion. In celebration of Ace Frehleys unquestionable status as a rock icon, and the epitome of glam-rock stardom that KISS represented at this crystalline moment in time in 1977, Gibson Custom proudly announces the release of the Ace Frehley œBudokan Les Paul Custom, produced in a strictly Limited Edition of 50 hand-aged guitars signed by Ace himself. Offering everything youve come to expect from Gibson Customs artist replica guitars, the Ace Frehley œBudokan Les Paul Custom is a painstaking recreation of Frehleys modified Les Paul Custom, based on intimate examination of the instruments current condition.

The Ace Frehley œBudokan Les Paul Custom has been created with close cooperation between Gibson Custom, Ace Frehley and the guitars current owner, Matt Swanson. Digital scanning technology was used to capture every minute detail of the actual guitar.

In the image of the original Les Paul Custom, the guitar has a three-piece maple top glued to a mid-70s œpancake body made from a middle and back section of solid mahogany joined by a thin maple veneer, with no chambering. The top is hand-sprayed in nitrocellulose to give it the same Heritage Cherry Sunburst finish as the original, with 50 hand-aged to match the wear of the existing guitar, and signed by Ace Frehley. The three-piece mahogany neck has been made made to match the originals thin profile. Decorative elements include mother-of-pearl block fingerboard inlays, multi-ply body and headstock binding, mother-of-pearl Gibson headstock logo and split-diamond inlay, and a cream pickguard.

To match Aces original guitar, the Ace Frehley œBudokan Les Paul Custom is loaded with three period-correct double-cream DiMarzio humbucking pickups”two PAF models in the neck and middle positions, and a Super Distortion in the bridge. And just like on Ace's guitar, the traditional 3-way toggle switch has been modified to only allow the use of the bridge pickup, allowing you to be able to accomplish one of Ace's most noted effects. The DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup offers searing lead tones and fat, chunky rhythm for the ultimate hard-rock performance. Hardware includes the classic pairing of chrome ABR-1 bridge and stopbar tailpiece, with Aces choice of Grover tuners with pearloid œbanjo buttons and Dunlop straplocks to keep the guitar securely strapped on through the wildest on-stage antics. In short, the Ace Frehley œBudokan Les Paul Custom is the ultimate embodiment of mid-70s arena-rock balls and bluster, and its available in strictly limited numbers.