Ace Frehley has opened up about his biggest gear regret: parting ways with a highly valuable ‘59 Gibson Les Paul Burst that he sold to fund a gambling trip.
Speaking in the new issue of Guitarist, the former Kiss electric guitar was asked whether there were any guitars from his past collection he intensely regrets letting go of.
Frehley highlighted his ‘59 LP – widely seen as one of the most collectible instruments of them all – which he used to raise money for a jaunt to Atlantic City.
As the story goes, Frehley chartered a helicopter for the trip, and had it stop off at Richie Friedman’s well-known high-end vintage gear retailer, We Buy Guitars, to help him get some quick cash for his visit to New Jersey.
“Supposedly, the ’59 Les Paul I bought before recording my [1978] solo album is now up to $350,000 or more,” he says. “That was the biggest regret. It was after I quit KISS; I was still getting fucked up and I wanted to go to Atlantic City because I love to gamble.
“So I booked the helicopter on the West Side [of New York City], where they have those helipads, and I stopped at Richie Friedman’s We Buy [Guitars] and sold it.”
Frehley purchased the guitar for $4,000, and – as he has previously explained to Guitar Player – managed to recoup $18,000 when he later sold it. A fairly sizable mark-up, but one that absolutely pales in comparison to the guitar’s current value.
Frehley isn't too worried about the losses he incurred while selling his vintage Les Paul, mind. As he goes on to explain, any guitar he buys – and he’s bought a fair few in his time – goes up in value just because of its association with him.
“You know, when I sign any guitar I buy, it doubles or triples in price,” he concludes. “So I can always make money on any guitar I’ve bought that I want to sell. Just because I got too many, I have more than 120 guitars here and I just want to get rid of some of them.
“When I was on the Alice Cooper tour [in 2022], I was going crazy hitting pawn shops; I must have bought 35 guitars!”
He may miss his original ’Burst Les Paul, but he’s got the next best thing: a near-identical recreation from Gibson that was built using high-resolution pics of the original.
“Gibson got a hold of that guitar from the guy who bought it, and they took high-resolution photographs,” he told Guitar Player. “So when I came out with my ’59 Les Paul, it was pretty much a duplicate of that guitar.
“I went to the Gibson showroom in Las Vegas at the time, and they had all 75 of the aged models they’d made, and they wanted me to pick the best one.”
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