Ace Frehley's 3 Pickup Mod (The Trout route) 

You should offer the template for sale. Plenty of us Ace fans out there.

I might be a little biased, but this has got to be the best video on RU-vid. You did an awesome job on this guitar and I play it every single day. Thanks so much for your professional trout rout. It turned out exactly the way I wanted it to. Now I can rock and roll all night and party everyday

I realize that "Trout Route" refers to the infamous Tom Schneider interview where Schneider mispronounced the word "Bass player" when asking Gene what his role in the band was. (Schneider said "Bass" as in "Behss" the way the fish name is pronounced instead of "Base") At which Ace jokingly said that his own role was that of "Trout Player" But by the time that happened Ace was already playing his three pickup Customs.

Using screws in the bridge mounting holes was a genius level move!

Yes, Exactly how my 1998 ACE Signature (production model) is wired. Middle combined with Bridge pickup sounds PHAT!

Around 7:18, when you said "with this setup, you have the best of both worlds" This reminded me that evh used a strat with single coils on the 2nd position to record the tune Best Of Both Worlds... Useless information, but it's just my mind associating things

Not even the forums online have this. Been looking for something like this for at least a year. Thank you sir. Very happy this vid has zero dislikes. Das exactly how it should be. Thanks man love the channel. 😎👍

Loved your video, I’m in the beginning stages of a similar project and found this to be very helpful. I particularly enjoyed your thoughts about bridge pups in the neck position. Actually demonstrating the end result was EXCELLENT!!! 👍👍👍👍👍

Wow man what a clean routing job ! Sounds great!

Awesome sounds! Great job🙂

Cool mod! Came out great!

Just discovered you channel and it really entertaining, keep up the good work!

I had a '76 Les Paul Custom 3- pickup that came factory wired as you have it here. The stock pickups were pretty weak so I replaced them with 3 Super Distortions with 500k push-pull pots for splitting and more pickup selections. The SD in the neck position was overpowering, almost useless, so I eventually replaced it with a Dimarzio PAF Pro. THAT was the perfect combination volume-wise & tone-wise. Also got some excellent Fender-y tones with the splits and pickup combos.

Ace & those killer Dimarzio’s We are all Ace fans.

Wow that middle position sounds real full like you are instantly double tracked. Very impressed with the sound - hmm Gibson BBB Les Paul. Could be a popular model!

I always stop what Im doing when I see you put out a new video!

Liking the routing template I just cut one for a vintage guitar. Freehand guitar is hydro dip painted made my pick guard out of plexiglas it's all wired with one bridge Seymour duncan invader one 500k pot and a tesi kill switch I'm now letting paint cure for one week before I clear coat . I'm really excited to try it got some grover tuners also.

You are an artist. Amazing

Really awesome how to video! I find that emotional value can out weigh dollar value! I'm sure your client is really happy with the finished product! Seems like I rem. ace saying that his tuners was like from a banjo if my remembering is correct or it might been another guitar I'm thinking about! Cause I rem him saying cause they were bigger! Kept rockin ! Space ace Ron

When I bought my first Di Marzio super distortion pups in the early eighties, they never told me that the bridge and neck positions needed different pickups. Maybe, there was no difference back then? Anyhow, they still are favourite, together with the original Bill Lawrence dual rail. Very hot, and perfect for seventies and eighties hard rock & heavy metal.

It looks badass , pro job

Wow. That neck pu sounds awesome like that.

That is what I want done to my Epi LP Standard. The bridge and middle sound killer!

Sounds great

I bought a 1978 Burny Les Paul Custom from Japan and it was stock 3 pickups and I wanted to do the same thing and get it autographed by Ace but when I put the DiMarzio SD in and wow! sounded amazing, So I drop the Ace thing and made it my own guitar. Sold the the DiMarzio pickups.

I had a friend in High School in the late 70s whose parents were very well off and treated him to a new LP black custom and this was the first thing he did to it.

Sweet, my brotha

WoW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sounds GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great job! You could probably rack it in just doing this mod for Ace fans. Most of the Chibson A.F. L.P.s have wiring and playing issues.

Nice job. Got my sub dude.

That is awesome

Quite a few of Ace’s 3 pickup guitars were actually only 2 pickup guitars with a dummy middle pickup stuck on for looks, and many of both 2 and 3 pickup guitars were only wired for the bridge pickup. Nice job of this one👍

Nice job . Tones on set up decent . Now for the smoke effect . Cheers 11/21/2021

Funny thing was all of Ace's 3 pickup Les Pauls only had the bridge pickup wired & working.

I’ve red Ace Custom was a regular two pickup model and the middle pickup was just a glued on dummy.

I once modded a 3 pickup Les Paul. It had two regular toggle switches and 3 Volumes. So, I could choose any combination of the pickups.

Do you think you can put a floyd rose in a Fender Mustang?

Badass!!!

Very educational video. I just purchased Ace Frehley custom shop factory aged limited edition which has the 3 pickups. Only one is wired. I like to know if it is only re-soldering existing wires in the cavity to be done. And i just follow your schematic?

All Super Distortions are bridge pickups. So many people put them in both positions Dimarzio now says “put them where you want!”

Now make the disco light Les Paul !

Please do a video of 3 HBs with 3 Mstr Vols and 1 Mstr Tone. Thank you!!!

I wired my Les Paul with volume for each pickup and a master tone,sounds awesome,specially when you blend them,just wanted to share that,not sure if you ever tried that or not..Great video and just subscribed !! 🤘😁🎸🎶

Most 3 Humbucker Gibsons did not have the ability to select the Middle pickup on by itself, so there may be many people that are misassociating the sound of the Middle pickup when in fact what they are hearing the Middle and Bridge together.

Awesome vid! Ace only has the bridge wired

have you ever wired a 3 pickup paul with a standard switch(neck-bridge) but with the second tone pot re wired for a volume pot just for the middle pickup. this way you can get any or all 3 pickups, i.e. you can have just the middle by itself if you wanted,or all three on the switch would control the standard pups, the moded tone pot contro;s middle pup. it sounds really good like this

I saw Ace Frehley on MTV back in the 80s. The middle pickup wasn't real. It was made to look like a pickup but was loaded with a pyrotechnic that went off when he pushed it in and burned bright white for a stage show effect.

cool. I'm sure you know, on Ace's actual guitar he only had the bridge pickuop wired up- but I think ost people would want all 3 especially if they don't have a smoker wired up

Hi, great video very informative. I would like to attempt the Ace 3 pickup mod but I have a question. In the video you mention that the 3 way switch has to be replaced with a 3 pickup switch. So my question is where can I buy a 3 pickup switch? I checked ebay but the only kind of switch I can find are 3 way switches. If possible can you please post a link to where a 3 pickup switch can be purchased? I would appreciate it very much. Cheers and thanks.

great job!! hey i bought a old hondo black les paul copy guitar at a flea market , i put new strings on it and a new output jack, polished it up, and set it up, the action is great, sounds great! is it a valuable guitar? i paid $75.00 for it!

Very informative! But.. for the record, Ace's guitar had the bridge pickup wired, only. The other one was a dummy and the neck was the smoke bomb cover.

What about a 3 way switch for the les paul do they make one?

Nice, sounds 3 x better!

The Guy wants 3 pickups... but he only uses the Bridge..... comon' man, you guys are killin' me dude!! Sounds like a Dentist drill! (Like Slash)

My three pickup Les Paul I wired it up as having the middle pickup have its own volume

The best players only need one pickup. Disclaimer I'm not one of them.

With the arched body I wouldn't even put the pickguard on they look better without it. Now if it was the flat body Gibson Les Paul I would put the pickguard on it

Hello what hight did you set each pick up to looks like middle higher than others Thank you

you do realize that the middle and neck pick up in Ace's guitars are not wired?

You could have done the Peter Frampton mod where there a master volume for both and neck and the other volume is to blend in the middle pickup no matter which pickup is selected.

what kind pickup u use for the middle position??? bridge or neck???

I think that the thing about Ace's guitar is that all the pups were Super distortions. So, the client got it right.

Dimarzio Super Distortion has 13.68k ohm dc resistance and you said 6.5k. Maybe you measured just one coil? Good work, nevertheless! For neck position you can have a PAF 36th Anniversary, a classic combination with a bridge Super D. and more versatile and balanced sounding.

what type of pickup normally goes in the middle?

Challenge accepted!!

Great video. Only thing that would help me is if you kept the tools away from the mic. 3:05.

i need a part# list!!!!!!! any help wuld be hot.... nice wrk 👍🍻

Ace only had the bridge pickup wired up he never used the others and his smoking guitar had 2 pickups and a cover with lights in the neck activated with the spare knobs .

thought ace had no pickup in the middle and set off a smoke bomb in the center cavity?

Robertson screws to hold the template down....ah, so you are Canadian!

The trout route

DiMarzio that Ace and Paul used back in the seventies were hand-wound by him

How come you didn’t make it glow and smoke like Ace’s Les Paul???

Ace never had the neck or middle wired in. You should have made your client a 'Frankenstrat' Fair use Eddie fair use.

Cant be Dimarzio SD's if they're measuring around 6k-7k ohms? SD's are overwound to almost 14kish. I wish you'd have gone into detail about getting that middle pickup in phase. That's the issue with the added pickup, not necessarily the placement, as you can tell once playing it. Good work on the template & mod.

Ace only used one pickup. i guess the customer likes the look of it more than the sound?

Only the beard strokers and blues lawyers will whine about “defiling” a Les Paul. Usually the morons that can’t play worth a crap whine the most. It’s his guitar, he can do whatever the hell he wants with it! I put EMG’s in my Les Paul custom just to watch the beard strokers get their panties in a twist 😂. May rout it out for a Floyd just because I can. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. As long as they understand it’s not THEIR guitar. Who cares about resale value? Only clowns who sell their guitars instead of playing them. 👊🏻

You do realize that Ace's guitar has ONLY the bridge pickup wired in. The other ones don't even work.

Three hot humbucking pickups is an awful lot magnetic pull on the strings. I never liked Ace's tone with that 3 pickup configuration.

literally no one: Ace: *ACTUALLY I'M THE TROUT PLAYEH AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH*

Should have been a Les Paul Custom burst instead of a Standard Dah"

Dude, who strung that guitar? (Hint:) You should never have more than 3 wraps on the wound strings - otherwise, your not going to have good tuning.

Why not put smoker in if you're kiss fan

But Ace's guitar did not have the rout itwas just a fake flastic sitting on top of the wood

Ace is my hero, he’s the reason I play LP’s but I detest the 3 pup LP look. It’s like a super hot girl with a double sized forehead.

It doesnt rhyme if your from England

Rb smokes a lot of weed or is just really wrong on everything KISS and Ace Related.

another pickup....incredible mod....not

see that neck joint in the cavity and fret nibs folks? That's why Gibson sucks and lawsuit guitars are far better

Just more weight and gets in the way of picking.... why ruin a les paul....

3 pickups is too busy looking. If you cant get it done with 2, you're doing it wrong. It was just a Gimmick for Ace. Even he states that the middle pickup does nothing but smear the sound. Pickups are the same ohms? Rings are the wrong size? My hunch is this guy could care less what this mod does as long as helooks like Ace.

Great mod, great mod!! Without the intention of minimize your great work, that was awesome. Ace has stated that he never used the pickup in the middle.