ACE FREHLEY'S ORIGINAL 1973 GIBSON LES PAUL X WALT GRACE VINTAGE 

i think it was obvious that from the moment he played the first note on this vid everyone of a certain age knew instantly that this is THE guitar that sound is burnt into our minds forever

This is why this channel is better than the Hard Rock's collection of signature guitar videos, he actually plugs it in and plays it how it should be played.

😮 bro. I REMEMBER that guitar from the first concert I saw at 4 in 1974 as the burst. I did NOT know that it was refinished as ebony... Much less the conversion he had done to it. I recently bought a 1980 Epiphone Genesis as a restoration/custom project and THOUGHT that I wanted a LP Custom style neck with block inlays... byt you just showed Me why God brought it into My life. The body is IDENTICAL in bound ebony with a simple cable jack relocation its this as a tribute to the dude who made Me like this 😂 Ace, yer a baaaad mutha, brutha!🤘🏻🃏

The guitar of my dreams was always a Les Paul Sunburst like Ace Frehley's from the first time I saw him playing and in photos, over time I have become a fan of other guitars and brands, but I remember that I always wanted this guitar, and I wondered for a long time who would have it now or where that guitar would end up, I like double cut style but I would have left it original good video

Está guitarra tiene historia los comienzos del grupo kiss y también se le hizo mejoras a la guitarra

Blasphemy!!! Should have never made it a double cut.

That amp sounds INCREDIBLE

The tone of that guitar is absolutely unmistakeable.

Ace has always been my favorite lead guitarist, ever. Hís choice of guitars is incredible. This guitar is bad ass. I bet it plays as good as it looks. Especially if played through a Marshall. The great guitar players always did something to their guitars. Thanks Ace !

it blows my mind that he would let a guy make his first LP into a double cut and re-paint it... Still sounds fantastic!

Ace was such a riff master.Doesnt get enough credit .Also your playing here is alot of fun.Your enthusiasm is contagious. Ace is the best part of kiss

It makes me feel good to know such a true fan was able to have time with a iconic instrument. I can feel your excitement on this video. Congratulations man!!

I’m so glad that you played my favorite song “Mr. Speed”.

Walt Grace Vintage should find some way to get this iconic guitar into Jeff’s hands - permanently! The man is obviously devoted to playing/protecting and lovingly maintaining it to the end of his days. U got my vote, W.G.V.!

Les pauls from the first half of the 70s are highly underrated guitars . Page has a 1970 gold top deluxe that was routed for humbuckers and painted red and it became one of his most used guitars. It was his backup guitar from 1970 to 1973 until he got his second 59 les paul after the 73 tour . The guitar was used again as a backup on the 77 tour .. on the outrider tour of 1988 the red les Paul deluxe was pages number 1 and he used it on almost every song it also saw serious stage time on the the page and plant tours and in the tour he did with the black crowes. It has actually seen far more stage time than the 59 les Paul he bought in 1973 . Alex lifeson also had a couple of 1974 les Paul's that he used extensively in the 70s . One was a 74 deluxe routed for humbuckers and the other was a 74 tobacco sunburst standard which seen more use than the deluxe. It's the les paul he is playing on the all the worlds a stage live album and his guitar tone on that album is absolutely ferocious. Vintage snobs will say the early 70s les Paul deluxe and mid 70s standards are all garbage but I have heard many that blow modern gibson custom shop les pauls out of the water. The early the 1968 to 1974 les paul customs are fantastic guitars too . Many players have used 74 les customs and made them sound killer . Early 70s customs were a common choice for hard rock and metal players in the 1970s Randy Roads Mick Mars and steve jones all rocked the early to mid 70s les Paul customs. Pre 1975 Gibson t top humbuckers are incredible pickups and many famous and sought after guitar tones that get credited to paf pickups were actually recorded with t top and earlier Gibson patent sticker pickups

Strings n' Things in Memphis was notorious for screwing up guitars. They screwed up Jeff Beck's Les Paul too.

That's one of the most iconic guitars of rock history, Ace definitely used it to record Alive and many other classic Kiss records. What an awesome piece of Kisstory!

Ace needs that guitar back! Even though he never played it after it was chopped up and got the double cut out!

Sweet baby Jesus! Hearing and seeing that instrument played is just amazing. It sounds unmistakably like those early kiss records. I’m glad to see it still being rocked than rusting away

This was really awesome to see! Ace is my guitar god!!!!! I love looking at pictures of all the guitars he used back in the early days before kiss and kiss club days! Very fascinating guitars!!!!

Thank you for giving Ace respect,

Amazing! That guitar still has that ALIVE! sound! Fantastic! When is the last time Ace played it live?

BUT....whatever happened to Ace's Ovation Breadwinner that he played when KiSS first formed.

Tone for days!! 🎸 killer video, that guitar is badass & sounds 👌🏼🤘now I want one! 😁

How on earth was it destroyed like that? I like double cuts, but that legendary tobacco burst Les Paul with the cream open coil pickups is one of my favourite guitars ever, in my opinion it just doesn't look great now, not because double cut Les Pauls are bad, but because of legendary axe it once was.

Pretty close but you need to dial back the gain a bit. Ace's tone didn't really have that much overdrive.

Great tone. It sounds so uniquely Ace.

Ace’s tone is literally embedded into that guitar. :)

If you do research on Aces guitar collection, you will find that he’s not all that sentimental about his guitars by that I mean that all his classic guitars like this one, his cherry sunburst, and his 59 Les Paul he either pawned or sold off, all his main guitars now are either replicas of his original ones or signature models

YES YES YES!!! I've heard the stories but never have seen it in action. How amazing!

That amp plays a big role in his sound as well

It would have been nice to hear how Walk got his hands in it.

This iconic guitar that Ace recorded all of the classic Kiss records with ( 1st album up to Rock and Roll Over) needs to be brought back to it's former look and glory. It needs to be carefully stripped of the black paint and have the upper cut away replaced with proper dimensions, fix the face of the headstock, take the binding off of the headstock, carefully refinished to that '70's era tobbaco sunburst finish. This could be done and SHOULD be done.

Sweet Moses! They say tone is in the hands and he’s definitely one hell of a guitar player but my gosh does that guitar sound like a towering inferno of tone. The historical features of this are so great, I only wish it was another 30 minutes longer.

So sad this guitar was hacked into a totally different look. That has to destroy the value.

This was fantastic, the info, and the sound! The sound is quintessential Ace so why have Gibson not recreated it? Fantastic demo of the guitar and priceless history and information. My only question is, where can I buy one! Come on Gibson!

Ace never used too much distortion in KISS, and the band often recorded with small amps as opposed to Marshall stacks.

From 1974-1977 there were a total of 503 shows played. Far short of the "thousands" or "thousands and thousands". ;) An iconic guitar!!

Great..and he can play just like Ace..wow!!!!!! What a sound...rock n roll...history.

Holy fudge that rig sounds incredible.

Tone is thick and awesome! Never knew Ace contoured the heel! In this day, not sure why all guitars aren't modified for better access, but of course I'm not really a traditionalist. Also digging the double cutaway, looks unique and stands out.

I’m thinking this is my top 5 RU-vid video I’ve ever watched. As a Kiss fan and specifically an Ace Frehley fan, this is absolutely incredible.

As Napoleon Dynamite would say..."Lucky!!!"

Gene was friends with, and went to school, with Larry DiMarzio, hence the Kiss connection. Also, the ‘smoke bomb’ residue on this guitar is from the joke shop smoke bombs Ace would insert into the cavity of the guitar-and light them. In the early days, that’s how he did it. He didn’t have this one modified and routed out for smoking-that came later. But it’s not this guitar that was a ‘push button’ modified smoker-it’s another Les Paul entirely. That’ said, great playing, man! I’m glad a true Kiss fan got to show this to us.

Such great KISStory and what a great story! Thank you!

Love to see and hear aces story about this guitar

all the usual subjects inspierd me to play ace jimi george maiden etc ace had a white guitar whatever its name is going through a 4 holed marshall i cant remember the model lool his tone was bombastic clean melt youre face type sound ive seen kiss in 75 his brown burst les paul with a dimarzio is correct the cherry burst is my fave i have 6 different les pauls he also played a exsplorer a aluminum one in ladies in waiting and manny others hes a fire burner on that fretboard

Nothing like a 50 watt Marshall. My 50 watt JCM 800 is the only amp I've kept for over 30 years.

WOW that 2204 sounds nasty! any record of the settings?

I grew up in love with this band, became a professional guitar player because of Ace, bought a 1978 Cherry burst Les Paul custom for $600 cash when I was 16 years old in 1981 because I wanted a guitar like Ace, (couldn’t find an actual sun burst) so why haven’t I ever heard of this guitar or seen Ace play it?

Why Ace, why? Oh yea, cocaine 😆

wow! amazing piece of history!

Love that he plays as much as he talks. Hate videos when they show the instrument and don't play it.

"And come give it a spin for yourself"........ Yeah right. I'm just gonna pop down to Walt Grace in my ripped jeans and Slayer shirt (with replica Kerry King 2 inch spike wristband and steel chain belt of course) and say, "Hey dudes, sling me that Frehley '73 Paul so I can give it a spin for myself. Here Jerry, hold my buuuuurrrrrrp beer. Hey anyone got some wetwipes to get the axle grease offa my paws?" Yep, totally gonna happen.........

Somebody ruined the perfectly good Les Paul to make an inferior Ibanez Artist. What a joke of a guitar.

I'm an enormous KISS fan. Ace from '73 to '77 was great. He was on fire. But after that, he just went down hill unfortunately.

Ace is god, Jeff is a star, I have been a kiss fan since 74. Bring on more of these videos. MB

Yeah when he plays that solo from alive that was fucking awesome

whats that riff in the beginning?

ACE FOREVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great video, I really enjoyed it. The tone is very Ace.

Good god. Ace is the reason I picked up a guitar. Envious you got to play that legendary instrument 🤘😁🎸

That guitar sounds better than the sunburst he upgraded to. Just goes to show, you get a good one that is a match for your feel, that's all that matters. Even Eddie's tone peaked in the first few years, IMHO. Sometimes guitars can be too good for their own good.

For the whole video I was scratching my head looking at that double cutout and thinking ‘that’s not Aces guitar’, but you explained it in the end, haha, great video!

Brought my First ever guitar today a Gibson les Paul standard I’m 60 but love Kiss just want to learn all those songs the journey starts here Ace is one of my hero’s 😎🎼👌👍

That was my absolute favorite guitar, it still feels a bit personal when I look at it with the old look. I cannot believe somebody turned it into this, what a shame.

I loved that tobacco LP. That was THE Ace guitar - too bad he did that double cut mod and black paint.

Rad. I have a 1955 Strings & Things Les Paul Jr. that was routed to double humbuckers in '79. Chris Lovell of S&T confirmed that this came through their shop. I have since put real 1960 PAFs in it and it's amazing.

Damn, definitely has the "sound".

2:34 actually, he was a plumber

DiMarzio Tone Zone allows more voicing than the SD pickup. More expression less fire.

Love the passion. But let's settle this once and for all... it's FRAY-lee. NOT FREE-lee. Rock on!

i love how you show admiration for Ace, he is my fav guitarist, def doesnt get enough credit, im doing an ace-slash combo les paul right now from a well known kit... great video, thanks !!!

Why on God's Earth don't Gibson make these, it looks great!

Pickups too much overwounds to my taste. If I had to pick a vintage gibson with hotter pickups it would be something similar to the Randy Rhoads

Sounds so smooth

Love this feature of Ace‘s famous guitar. It sounds amazing especially when played through this Marshall amp.

He could not have played 'thousands and thousands of shows' in a 3-4 year span.

The sound is tremendous

Wow that is so amazing. It sounds incredible. I to wish he would've kept it original, but whatever w that. It's an incredible guitar, and it's ingrained in rock history.

Thank you such much. I love KIZZ and I was fortunate enough to catch them here in San Diego on 9/25/2021. Unfortunately Ace wasn't playing but it still was a fantastic show. Kepp up the good work.

Sounds incredible, Man! Thank you for sharing this...I can tell you are so truly happy and excited to play that! Awesome

Always wondered why that classic guitar(my fav by far) seemed to just disappear! Great post. 😎🤟🏽

You can really hear the first three Kiss albums in this demonstration.

I had the same T-shirt you are wearing, ,got it on my 10 the birthday, in 1977!

thats badass curly!

That sound is mind blowing!!!!

That 2204 does sound good........more bottom end than normal. The v1 cascade gives it a bit more sizzle than the 1959 amps Ace used in the era of that Gibson Deluxe. The recording of this clip was done very well, with a player who obviously is a Frehley fan 👍

Ace Rulez!

Great guitar and playing

Funny how everything has been changed and it still has that original KISS sound! 💚🎸👌💨🤘

is their a celestion g12m greenback speaker in this cabinet

That’s how kiss is supposed to sound...

This is very interesting and speaks to the importance of having a unique sound.

I got one of those early DiMarzio humbuckers sitting round , going to call it the Ace pu now...

Wasn’t the original property of AceFrehleyLesPaul.com? Update: No, it’s not his, but everyone should check out this Ace Frehley based site

I would never have credited Ace Frehley with such taste or guitar building ability! Awesome video....!

I've been a kiss fan since I was 14 years old. I have thousands of magazine photos.and I must say I never seen this axe played by Ace.

No true fan would give this video thumbs down ever! Thanks for sharing! That rig, guitar and tone are absolutely droolworthy!

The fact that the guitar was altered should have been the first thing explainied in this video. 🙄