Gibson Ace Frehley Budokan VOS Les Paul Electric Guitar with CaseThe
Gibson Custom Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul VOS Electric Guitar is made in celebration of Ace Frehley’s unquestionable status as a rock icon, and the epitome of glam-rock stardom that KISS represented at this crystalline moment in time in 1977. Offering everything you’ve come to expect from Gibson Custom’s artist replica guitars, the Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul Custom is a breathtaking recreation of Frehley’s modified Les Paul Custom.
Gibson Custom Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul VOS Features
- Four-piece ‘sandwich’ Mahogany body with three-piece Maple top
- Ebony fingerboard with Mother-of-Pearl block inlays
- Three open-coil, double-cream DiMarzio pickups
- Chrome-plated stopbar and ABR-1 bridge
- Grover machine heads with pearloid banjo tuners
- Limited Edition 150 guitars treated in Gibson Custom’s VOS process
Body
In the image of the original Les Paul Custom, the Gibson Ace Frehley Budokan VOS guitar has a four-piece maple top glued to a mid-’70s ‘sandwich’ 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.
Neck
The three-piece mahogany neck has been made made to match the original’s 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.
Electronics
To match Ace’s original guitar, the Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul VOS 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
Hardware includes the classic pairing of chrome ABR-1 bridge and stopbar tailpiece, with Ace’s choice of Grover tuners with pearloid ‘banjo’ buttons and Dunlop straplocks to keep the guitar securely strapped on through the wildest on-stage antics.
In short, the Gibson Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul VOS Custom is the ultimate embodiment of mid-’70s arena-rock balls and bluster, and it’s available in strictly limited numbers. All guitars include a Gibson Custom hardshell case silkscreened with Ace’s signature. VOS guitars (150) include a standard CoA.
When KISS hit the stage at Nippon Budokan in Japan in 1977 with guitarist Ace Frehley behind a Cherry Sunburst, three-pickup Gibson 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.
American Musical Supply; an Authorized Gibson Internet Retailer
AmericanMusical.com has been selected as one of Gibson's very few Authorized Internet Retail Sites in the United States. As one of these select few Internet sites, AMS offers an unparalleled selection of all of Gibson’s premium brands, all covered by Gibson’s Limited Lifetime Warranty; only available from Authorized Gibson retailers.
Gibson is recognized as one of the most respected guitar builders in the world. AMS is proud to have a decades-long history with them and honored that Gibson has chosen us to bring their world-class instruments to you. Look for more new product announcements, special events and promotions in the coming months.
Gibson - Pure.