Starz Getarz - Ace Frehley's Custom Double Cutaway Les Paul

Ace's Customized Double Cutaway Les Paul ACE FREHLEY -
Customized Double Cutaway Les Paul

Ace told me all about this Les Paul he had rigged with this smoke bomb and a beam light which he said was not working properly. I told him I would look at it that night before the show and then we realized it was past time for sound check and the limo driver still wasn't back. It was time to get to the coliseum and the guys were freaking out.

I told them that I had a '62 Volkswagen out back if they could get into it and they said "Let's go!". We all piled into my Volks (equipped with original factory skirts) and took off for the coliseum. By the time we got there, people were already arriving early for the show. We had to weave through the crowd with Ace and Paul in the back seat. They were afraid the fans were going to spot them in the car and go bazzurk! We made it to the back gate in this funky Volkswagen and spent another 20 minutes trying to convince the gate guard that we had KISS in the back seat. Finally, some of the roadies identified them and in we went and none to soon! We stayed for the show and witnessed the glamour, the glitter and the encore!!!!!!

The next day we worked on Ace's "Smoke Bomb" Les Paul and rebuilt some of the mechanism. It was a really crazy guitar. If you tapped the pickup kinda hard with a pick it would swing back into the guitar on a hinge and behind it was a strobe bulb and a smoke bomb. There was a switch that would turn the bulb on and ignite the smoke bomb (or maybe it had 2 switches? I really don't remember, but it doesn' really matter now...) it was finally working right and Ace was happy.

While Ace was in the store, he saw a Double Cutaway Les Paul and really dug it. We talked about it for some time and he asked us if we would do one for him. We talked over the details and immediately went to work on it. Nik Chatal, one of our staff lutheirs, was put in charge of the project. (pictured right, now deceased)

We did some other projects with Ace and Paul Stanley, but that's another story for another time! More guitar photos in our Guitar Mania DCLP section.