During
my friendship with Ace, he would call me at work and
we would just chat, or he would call me with a question
on his gear. I repair guitars for a living, and work
at a place that also fixes amps and related gear.
He had a lot of problems with the laney amps, and
I figured out that the cabinets weren't properly wired,
causing them to quickly go through tubes or just blow
the output transformers. We went out to lunch together
one day, and I was telling him about a guitar I was
working on, when he said that he had an old Gibson
Les Paul Junior that he wanted to use, but it needed
a lot of work. I told him that I would make it like
I thought he would want it. I completely stripped
it of parts, and pulled out the frets. Then I leveled
the fingerboard, and refretted it with Dunlop 6000
fretwire. (It's the largest size they make.) With
a new set of tuners, new bridge and tailpiece, and
a new hand cut graphite nut, the guitar played like
a dream. I didn't see Ace for a month or two when
it was done, so I had some fun playing it, photographing
it, and showing it off.
Around
the same time, I had 2 guitar straps made. They were
just like his old KISS ones, with the lightning bolt,
but these had glitter bolts. One was for me, because
Fractured Mirror was starting to play out more, and
the other was a Christmas present for Ace. (He used
it all through the rest of the solo tours, and into
the KISS reunion - along with a duplicate I later
had made for him.) Ace was very happy with my work,
and the next assignment was his #1 guitar, the cherry
sunburst Les Paul. He wanted it to play as good as
the Junior. Again, I stripped it of it's parts, pulled
out the frets and went to work. I also had to clean
up the wiring attempts from previous pickup installations.
I upgraded some of the parts, (of course I saved the
old ones!) and I delivered the guitar to Ace's hotel
room the before a show in Spring Valley, NY. He had
called me that day very excited to get it. When I
got there, he was like a kid waiting for his present.
He sat on the bed and played it every way he could
think of, and then looked up and had a big smile on
his face. "It's perfect" he said. Richie
Scarlett was there too, and he and I showed each other
some Hendrix licks while Ace was on the phone. I took
some great pictures that night of a happy Ace with
his "new" guitar. My payment for doing that
work, was his very first KISS costume, the eagle shirt,
worn at The Coventry (look at the bonus clip on KISSOLOGY).
While I had the guitar, I took some pictures of it
surrounded by the original LOVE GUN outfit. It was
sort of a reunion. I've done some guitar tweaking
for him here and there, picked up and delivered the
amp heads so they could be gone over, can you imagine
meeting up with Ace and he has a car load of amps
for you?
The last guitar I did for him was another Les Paul.
Gibson had given him a new one, but it was just a
standard. Well, he wanted me to make it just like
his #1. That meant tuners, (Grover Pearl Button ones
that are hard to find), installing a middle pickup
as well as all new pickups, (his middle and neck pickups
were not wired, just so you know), and a refret. It
was a big job and required many hours of work, but
it came out awesome. I also made him a custom pearl
truss rod cover that I hand engraved a planet with
stars into. I also carved his name into the inlay
at the 12th fret. He was very happy with this one.
When Kiss got back together and they were on the cover
of Guitar World, he was holding this guitar in the
picture. (You can see the pearl truss rod cover.)
Like I said before, Ace rejoined KISS and I never
heard from him again. But, it was a fun time hanging
with him, going to the shows, and doing the work for
him. We had some great times together and I have some
great memories. I'm still doing guitars today, and
it's been 23 years. Guitarists from KISS tribute bands
seek me out to have me set their guitars up, refret
them, and make them smoke. It's something I love to
do.
During
my friendship with Ace, he would call me at work and
we would just chat, or he would call me with a question
on his gear. I repair guitars for a living, and work
at a place that also fixes amps and related gear.
He had a lot of problems with the laney amps, and
I figured out that the cabinets weren't properly wired,
causing them to quickly go through tubes or just blow
the output transformers. We went out to lunch together
one day, and I was telling him about a guitar I was
working on, when he said that he had an old Gibson
Les Paul Junior that he wanted to use, but it needed
a lot of work. I told him that I would make it like
I thought he would want it. I completely stripped
it of parts, and pulled out the frets. Then I leveled
the fingerboard, and refretted it with Dunlop 6000
fretwire. (It's the largest size they make.) With
a new set of tuners, new bridge and tailpiece, and
a new hand cut graphite nut, the guitar played like
a dream. I didn't see Ace for a month or two when
it was done, so I had some fun playing it, photographing
it, and showing it off.
Around
the same time, I had 2 guitar straps made. They were
just like his old KISS ones, with the lightning bolt,
but these had glitter bolts. One was for me, because
Fractured Mirror was starting to play out more, and
the other was a Christmas present for Ace. (He used
it all through the rest of the solo tours, and into
the KISS reunion - along with a duplicate I later
had made for him.) Ace was very happy with my work,
and the next assignment was his #1 guitar, the cherry
sunburst Les Paul. He wanted it to play as good as
the Junior. Again, I stripped it of it's parts, pulled
out the frets and went to work. I also had to clean
up the wiring attempts from previous pickup installations.
I upgraded some of the parts, (of course I saved the
old ones!) and I delivered the guitar to Ace's hotel
room the before a show in Spring Valley, NY. He had
called me that day very excited to get it. When I
got there, he was like a kid waiting for his present.
He sat on the bed and played it every way he could
think of, and then looked up and had a big smile on
his face. "It's perfect" he said. Richie
Scarlett was there too, and he and I showed each other
some Hendrix licks while Ace was on the phone. I took
some great pictures that night of a happy Ace with
his "new" guitar. My payment for doing that
work, was his very first KISS costume, the eagle shirt,
worn at The Coventry (look at the bonus clip on KISSOLOGY).
While I had the guitar, I took some pictures of it
surrounded by the original LOVE GUN outfit. It was
sort of a reunion. I've done some guitar tweaking
for him here and there, picked up and delivered the
amp heads so they could be gone over, can you imagine
meeting up with Ace and he has a car load of amps
for you?
The last guitar I did for him was another Les Paul.
Gibson had given him a new one, but it was just a
standard. Well, he wanted me to make it just like
his #1. That meant tuners, (Grover Pearl Button ones
that are hard to find), installing a middle pickup
as well as all new pickups, (his middle and neck pickups
were not wired, just so you know), and a refret. It
was a big job and required many hours of work, but
it came out awesome. I also made him a custom pearl
truss rod cover that I hand engraved a planet with
stars into. I also carved his name into the inlay
at the 12th fret. He was very happy with this one.
When Kiss got back together and they were on the cover
of Guitar World, he was holding this guitar in the
picture. (You can see the pearl truss rod cover.)