Epiphone Ace Frehley Signature Series Custom

2000 Epiphone Ace Frehley Les Paul Signature Series.
Made in Korea.
Paid $480 out the door at Guitar Center in Phoenix. Their loss was my gain. It was a one owner and in great shape. I had to change out the strings and adjust the action and it just kills! Had a spare Anvil Les Paul case for it. The original owner was a young kid who had his parents buy it for a Christmas present and it never got played. The seller at Guitar Center always asks if I want to sell it to him. No way!
Rare trans-black finish.
22 frets, mahogany body, 1/2 inch maple cap, 1/32 flame top that looks really great. Rose wood fret board with lighting inlays, Ace's sig on 12th fret.
3 Dimarzio Super Distortion pickups.
3 way selector switch. Tune o matic bridge...it's a Les Paul copy with great vibe!

I've been playing metal for decades and I've owned 8 Gibson Les Pauls and assorted Les Paul knock offs. This Ace Frehley model does one thing...ROCK! And it rocks hard with the Dimarzio pups!

One thing in the sound I notices is that this axe has a lot of great low end punch, fat mids, and the highs cut through. My other Les Pauls would blink trust me. I wouldn't use this guitar playing cleaner music as these pickups are just a bit hot for clean playing. But I wanted the crunch and crunch rules on this guitar. I changed out the stock tuners for some nice Schaller Mother of Pearl tuners and it just sets this baby off in the cosmetics department!

I was hooked on Kiss growing up and loved what Ace did for the Les Paul. Those catchy hooks and riffs, plus the make up and smoke were the trappings a young guitarist would just get into...at least for me. I've used this guitar live in my current band playing originals and a few 1980's covers like Whitesnake, Ozzie, and so on. Pinch harmonics are really great on this guitar if your playing Whitesnake covers!

My dislikes are at a minimum, but here they are. This model in the trans black finish is rare since it was made for a year after talking to a Gibson/Epiphone rep. So I'm carefull about playing live with it. Most of the time it stays at home or makes it to band rehersals. It is neck heavy just a bit but a wider strap helps balance it all out. I use stap locks on every guitar anyway.

Upon purchase I had to set it up myself which was no problem. I put on fresh GHS Boomers Custom Lights, 9-46. I adjusted the pickups with the middle being way down and the two outer up close to the stings. To me, a Les Paul looks monster with three humbuckers in place, but let's face it, the middle one for me is for looks as I never use it anyway. So I set it down so my pick won't hit it.

The thin veneer top looks great and the figured maple is a really great contrast with the trans black finish and chrome hardware.

I couldn't really find any flaws worth mentioning. Since this guitar was built in 2000, I suppose that the quality control at the time of intoduction of this model was very high. I've even seen some with the "second" stamped on the back of the head stock and after looking, I was hard pressed to find fault in the 2000 models for what it's worth. I have seen my fair share of Epiphone Ace Frehley models in the cherry sunburst finish. It was a mixed bag and some looked great and look rather poor in the cosmetics. I may snag a cherry sunburst model just to have one of each down the road. But at $4000 for a Gibson Ace Frehley model is overkill.

A word to Gibson by the way. Get with the program guys and gals. It is totally insane to cough up $2000 plus for a machined piece of wood at such a fast food rate and let your quality control crew pass them off as an investment of American Heritage. My Gibson LesPauls were cherry picked by me and I only bought one new Standard and that was back in 1981. The rest were used. So buyer beware and get educated before you dump a lot of money into "wood"! My two cents.

As far as I can tell, this guitar will stand up to any studio work. With some care, it can stand up to the road. But with any guitar, if you use it, it will wear out and you need to stay on top of your guitars period.

Like I mentioned earlier, I put mother of pearl tuners on it by Schaller and it's sweet looking plus it stays in tune. The finish seems like it would hold up live gig after gig. I have strap locks on all of my guitars...let's be smart about this!

I can use my Epiphone Ace Frehley model with no hesitations at all. I have used it as a back up or special song selection along with my main axes which are an American Jackson Randy Rhoads Custom and two Agile Les Paul knock offs that just kill. I've posted one review about my stock Agile AL-2000 Tiger Eye top here. Great guitars.

Never dealt with Epiphone over this guitar. I have no issues. I bought it used and that's fine with me.

I've been playing since 1978. My amp gear is a rack system that I've had the great pleasure of using live and on the road.
Two Peavey 50/50 tube power amps.
Two Peavey Rockmaster preamps with Russian tubes.
BBE Sonic Maximizer.
Alesis Midiverb III.
Boss pedal board with the usual delay, tuner, flanger, chorus set up.
Nady wireless.
Not going into too much detail with my guitars but:
Two Agile Les Paul knock offs. AL-2000 is stock and it sounds great.
AL-2500 Ebony three humbucking Razor pickups that shred.
Two Jackson Randy Rhoads Customs. One is stock, 1985 San Dimas made. The other is 2005 with a Duncan custom pickup amd Floyed Rose whammy.
One 1981 Gibson Explorer EX-2 all maple with velvet brick pickups in cherry sunburst.
One Dean flying V built in Europe early 1990s. It shreds and all Korina wood.
One Fender Stratocaster, white with a Duncan Hot Rails. This is a 1970's reissue with an ash body and big head stock from Mexico. Nice axe indeed.
The Gibson Les Pauls that I've owned consists of the following:
1972 Custom Black Beauty fretless wonder.
1981 Les Paul Standard natural, bought new.
1980 Les Paul Deluxe cherry sunburst.
1970s Gold Top Les Paul Standard, can't recall year.
1954 Gibson Les Paul. Was a gold top with that trapeze tail piece. It was painted purple but I had it restored to a honey burst after finding out that the maple cap had flame in it, amazing!
1986 Les Paul Studio in a plum burst
Les Paul Custom 1985 in a cream finish with gold hardware.
Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst with stock coil tap switch.

Working in music stores for years allowed me the great connections to see a lot of used axes on the spot.

My sound is a bit like John Sykes, Randy Rhoads, Judas Priest, Hammerfall, European power/prog tone and crunch...you get the idea.

Features are covered in previous reviews.

I know it has 3 dimarzio super distortion (DP 100). But believe it or not, they sound different from the 2 of my other guitars that also have dimarzio super distortion (one is an Epiphone Custom, another Ibanez). Also, there are special decals on the cream covers of the PUs. I think these may be special editions of DP100 dimarzio made particularly for this signature model. These pickups really, really rock! Way better than my other DP100 and have a lot more edges. My sense is that they have larger impedance rate and therefore have greater output.

A setup perfected the action and feel.

This model has been discontinued after Ace left Gibson, and I have been used it for years. Never had a problem. Rock solid.

First, you won't find one easily on the market anymore, for Gibson has stopped its production since Ace left Gibson. Second, it is such a underrated model. IMO,it it feels and plays so much better than the current Epiphone Les Paul Custom, not to mention dimarzio pickups. It plays almost as well as my Gibson Les Paul Standard, but sounds more nasty. Epiphone was really making this signature model seriously. Historical values aside, this guitar is perfect for metal, rock and pop. I have been playing for over 15 years, and this is easily one of the best les paul models I have owned. If you have one, keep it!

2002 model. same as most other frehley`s out there

the dimarzios makes this guitar scream,with a little help from myself. sounds really good

i bought the guitar used. I had to adjust the action as it was so low it fretted out at the 14th fret..the pickup selector was broken,so it has to be replaced.I`ve ordered a new switchcraft that will replace the crappy epiphone switch.everything otherwise is good

all epiphones will eventually require a fretjob , as the frets are made of a softer metal...crap...hardware is good. poly finish is thick and shiny and will never dull up or crack..only had the guitar for a week. we`ll see how long it will last

gibson is great!

as in my other posts,i have played for 20 years now.nice to have a ace frehley les paul

I purchased this guitar in December of 2006. If you know anything about Ace Frehley he only plays Les Paul's. I really wanted the Gibson version but I couldn't come up with $4 grand for a decent used one so I bought the Epiphone. I was suprized how well this guitar was put together. Both the neck and body are bound and it has a cherry sunburst finish. The neck is rosewood with the lightning bolt pattern inlays. Mine has Ace's signature on the 12th fret. The newer ones don't. It was Korean made and mine had no over spray or any visible flaws. It has Grover tuners and has 3 Dimarzio Super Distortion pick-ups. The top of the guitar is flamed maple but is only a veneer. You get what you pay for but it does look good. The back is mahagony and the hard wear is chrome.

I play a lot of KISS so this guitar IS the sound that I was looking for. The guitar selector switch was set up on mine that in the center position all the pick ups are on. Man is it loud. However,the tone controls are useless in that position. I play it through my 2 Amps. One is a 120 watt all tube Peavey Windsor amp& cab and the other is my Peavey Valve king 100 watt combo amp with a Marshall Avt 412 cab.The guitar sounds awesome when playing the type of music it was ment for. Hard Rock & Roll is where it excels.

Well it had a lot of setting up to do. The strings were oxidized and the action needed to be set and the pickups needed to be adjusted. The top was matched well . The thing I don't like about Epiphone's is the way they have the tail piece screw pins mounted. They are press fit into the top of the guitar but not routed and flush like Gibson does it. It looks cheap but I guess that is how they cut costs. The other thing I don't like is the selector switch. It almost seems to fragile. I replaced mine with a Gibson switch. That fixed that.

After replacing the selector switch, I believe it will last along time. I am very good at keeping my stuff in good working condition so it may outlast me. Oh I did replace the strap buttons with Schaller's but I do that with all of my guitars.

I have been playing for over 20 yrs. and I presently own 4 guitars, Gibson Premium Plus Les Paul, an Epiphone Ace Frehley Les Paul, an Epiphone Tony Iommi SG, and a Takamine acoustic-electric. I like this guitar but it will never replace my Gibson as my first guitar but it is a close second.

This guitar is a primary example that Epiphone can make a great axe.This guitar probably has the nicest flame on it of any Ace model I have ever seen and better than most of the Gibson ones as well.The Cherry Sunburst is beautiful with a nice cherry laquer finish on the neck and back.Of couse its a Les Paul.It Has a Tune-o-matic type bridge and a stop tailpeice.The Grover tuners stay in tune forever and as a matter of fact,I have owned this guitar a year and only needed to tune it four times.It has the typical Les paul neck but is a little thinner than a lot of the guitars I have owned.I beleive it has medium frets with an Ebony Rosewood fretboard.It came with an Epi hard case and all the "case candy" and even a cable to plus it into my amp with.I also got a small padlock and key to lock the case with.This one is a Korean made model and I can only guess its from 2000 because it has the Ace Frehley signature 12th fret marker.I beleive its a 22 fret neck.It has a solid,Arched,flame maple top.it has two volume and two tone controls,and a three way toggle switch.Although it has three pickups.It can be a little confusing at first if you are not familiar with the pickup configuration.it has three Dimarzio USA Super Distortion Humbucker pickups which are not active but could be coverted to Actives ,I had Dimarzio USA Super Distortion's in my BC Rich Warlock and they were converted.The Body Wood Is Mohogany With Bookmatched,flame maple top.the neck is Maple and all together is a great and powerful Axe,not for the casual player....its a sonic power tool.

This guitar is not for the casual player,It sounds AWSOME.I play a lot of metal and classic rock and this guitar screams rock and metal.I use a tiny Dean Markley amp with a 8 inch speaker and overdrive switch but it rattles my windows.When I play with other guitarists,I use a Washburn Professional Series Amp With a 12 Inch Speaker,Overdrive with optional "More overdrive" and many settings and this Amp combined with this guitar could play a small arena.I use it without effecs petals mostly but I do use a Digitech RP-100 now and again.No Noise with this baby,Only a small amount of humming on my smaller amp.The sound is a tone monster.With a nice warm/fat Rhythm sound with the bridge pickup and a Fatter/Warmer/Overkill sound when you use the middle and bridge setting,and then the Neck position has a nice,Bright and heavey lead sound.an all around tone monster.This guitar is limited however to the type of music you can play.But I have played Skynyrd,Molly Hatchet,Allman Brothers,KISS,Metallica and just a good variety of music types.But it is mostly best sounding with the KISS/Classic rock type and southern rock sound unless you put a good petal to it.No disslikes here.

This guitar came to me ready to play.I am not sure how it came from the factory but my friend who sold it to me(works at the store I bought it from)Is a professional guitar tech and set it up and threw new strings on it.It plays great and the action if any lower,would cause buzzing.Its that low.Its as low as it could be without causing problems.The pickups were adjusted by my tech but I always have my own setting.I adjusted them to Ace Frehleys Specs for this guitar.The Top is beautifully flamed and bookmatched.The bridge could not be more properly routed.There were a few tiny black paint spots in the paint along the binding,other than that,its flawless.

Not too sure about the durability but I have bumped it a few times and it never got marked up.It stays in tune forever.And its real solid.I dont play live but I can be certain that if I were to gig it,I would have no problems with it standing up to the action.The hardware seems tough and sturdy and has a good solid stability.Like I said,it stays in tune forever.The strap buttons are well mounted but I have a thick strap for it as it weighs in at 8 1/4 pounds.So Its way too beefy for a thin nylon strap with thin leather tips.I can thouraly depend on this guitar and as for using it without a backup,I would not go that far.Not because I would be afraid that the guitar would fail,but there is always a chance something could go wrong.Nothing worse than having your only guitar fail on stage.I had one dumbass throw a beer bottle at me at one gig I did before I left my band and the bottle smashed on my guitar and shorted the pickups and ruined the finish.That was the only guitar I had with me so thats why I say never go without a backup.

Well it has a limited lifetime warrenty and thats pretty damn good.I layed the guitar away and when I went to pick it up,It had dings and scratches,It was stolen from the store among other guitars and was recovered although damaged.When I picked it up,they exchanged it for a brand new one.

I have been playing Guitar for over 10 years.I own an Ibanez IC-400 Iceman and a Effector Explorer as well as my Ace Frehley Epi and its by far the best I own Now.I have owned many many guitars in the past ranging from other Ibanez,High end Gibsons,Vintage BC Rich,To Cheaper Hondo and Lower line Samicks,SX and Galvaston guitars.I have owned a lot of guitars and the only one I have ever owned that compares to his Ace Frehley model is my now sold vintage 1991 BC Rich Warlock.I dont have any regrets on this one.Its better than I expected.I waited to play it untill I got it home.I did not even try it in the store.If someone broke or stole this,I would deffinately get another if I could not get it back in one peice.I love everything about this guitar and as a matter of fact,I cannot find any disslikes at all.My favorite feture surprisingly is the beautiful flame top.I had to have it based on that plus the Ace factor.so Overall I would say this guitar is my favorite.

My new guitar is an Epiphone LP Custom Ace Frehley's signature guitar.
It was built this year in Korea. It has a nice flame maple top with mahogany body and it has Grover machine hade. The good thing about this guitar is it has 3 DiMazio Super Distortion on it. Those humbuckers are cool. It actually looks nicer that other Epiphone. More info you can go to www.epiphone.com.

I?m very into Hard Rock and Meta music. This guitar sounds good for my test. The pick-ups scream out loud. It sounds much better than what I expect from the Epiphone.
I used to think that Epiphone guitars or Korea made guitars suck but this guitar makes me change this idea. They are making decent guitars at the affordable price for everyone. Anyway, it cannot compare to a 3,200 USD Gibson but it?s worth to pay 750 bucks for this good decent guitar.

The action is OK, just a little bit high.
I have to say that the action depends on the test of the player.
I always find the guitars, which they say they were well set up but I don?t feel comfortable with the action they set.

The finish looks great. Flame is Nice and clean. Nothing to say more than that.

I can not say about this topic as I do not go out for a gig but I have been playing guitars for 7 years.
I think that this Epiphone looks very well built and surely never be a problem on stage.

Staff at Tom Lee Music Hong Kong is great. They let me play every guitar I want.
I always have a good time spending at Tom Lee Music.

Made in Korea. Look at the Action/Fit/Finsh column to see my view on it. I never liked guitars where you can't see the grain of the wood- and in this respect this guitar is good.

Dunno how much this says, but it sounds the best out of the Epiphone Les Paul range. It is a shame that you only get two volume controls when you have three pickups. The tone knobs are almost useless if you have even a half-decent amp. But all that having been said- the guitar does sound pretty damn good.

PS. Unless you have a good fx edal and a good amp, don't buy this guitar if you don't like that KISS sound !

CONS
First of all- the selector switch tip broke as soon as I took it out of the box. I spoke to some friends with Epi's and they said I should have got a gibson switch tip (costing like $1 more than the epiphone one).

If you look closeley, you will understand what the MADE IN KOREA labe really means... All over the body, there are tiny blotches of black paint, especially around the edges. The varnighsing, especially on the head is so uneven it's embarassing. Also there are Cracks in the layer of varnish where the neck meets the body.

PROS
This guitar looks pretty awesome from far away.

The lightning bolt inlays are cool- shame about the twelth fret (ace's signature).

Personally, I like ace's faec on the head of the guitar, but I can see how it can be annoying.

I only gigged it once. I used a friends wah-wah pedal and an awesome amp. That got rid of the KISS sound (which I don't mind- it just happened that I wasn't playing KISS).

The guitar strap stayed on well, but you'll need to get a nice thick one because this guitar ain't exactly too light (nothing compared to the Sheratons- you can't play more than two songs standing up with those muthas).

It is a gem to gig because it looks classy and generaly awesom from afar.

Never Dealt With 'Em

If you want quality, you should get a second-hand gibson: it won't cost you much more.

But overall, this guitar is one of the best wpiphones out there.

Made In 2003 in Korea, I think in the Shine Factory, not positive though. 22 Frets with a Rosewood Fretboard and Thunderbolt Inlays, Ace's signature is on the 12th fret, very cool. The Flamed maple top is just beatiful, it really can't get any better on an Epi. Standard Les Paul controls with a 3-way selector switch but, it has 3 pickups so it is quite rare. The 3 pickups are all DiMarzio Super Distortions which sound good, in all positions, especially Bridge though. Mahogany with Maple Cap, Flamed Maple top, awesome, les paul body style (duh) Tune-O Matic Bridge, Grover Tuners, very cool, Came with Hardshell expensie Gibson case, strings and thats all.

Sounds Awesome! Perfect for classic rock, I play it mainly on my 15w crate practice amp, with a digitech pedal, Very awesome sound, no dislikes.

Set Up perfect, everything is great.

It should withstand live playing, It should last quite a whild, I can easily depend on it, Just amazing.

Haven't dealt with them but I have a Limited/Lifetime warranty.

I've been playing a while and I have a Fender Standard Strat, this is easily better. It's just amazing, flawless, nothing else is needed.

2003 Epiphone Ace Frehley Signature Les Paul Custom. Made in S. Korea at the Saein factory. Mahogany body, 1/2" maple top, and a 1/32" flamed maple veneer. Heritage Cherry Sunburst, with a set maple, 22 fret neck and rosewood fretboard. Three passive DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups wired to a three-way switch which engages (in order) the neck pickup, the middle plus bridge pickup, and the bridge pickup. Two volume and two tone pots. Tune-o-matic, ABR-1 type bridge and Grover tuners. It's a straight-up Les Paul, so the features are limited to that style. It'd be nice if the top was all flamed maple instead of a veneered flame over solid maple, but given the price (less than $800) and the equipment (the Dimarzios alone retail for a few hundred bucks) that might be expecting a bit much.

Rock hard, rock hard, rock hard. This guitar is a one trick pony-the fat mahogany/maple body and DiMarzio SDs sound best through overdriven, British-style tube amps (or simulations of) using big barre chords; I can barely get a sound clean enough to play an open chord on this beast. Of course, that is NOT what this instrument is for. What it does, and does well, is play hard rock! It has three distinct sounds, a warmer rhythm tone from position one, a HUGE (and I mean HUGE!!) rhythm tone from position two, and an edgy, wailing lead tone from position three. If'n you wanna rock, buy one. If you wanna finger pick and serenade, look elsewhere!

The guitar was reasonably well set up straight out of the box-frets level and even, intonation right on. With a new set of D'Addario 10's and a couple of minor tweaks to the neck relief it is very "playable." However, since the rosewood fretboard has a bit of a wide grain and the TOM bridge is set at a medium level to avoid any fret buzz, it'll never be a "fast" playing guitar. Nonetheless, it seems to have been built well-no oversprays, binding mistakes, or obvious imperfections. That's more than I can say for some of the "real" LPs I've played recently.

Given that the flamed top is a veneer, it will not hold up well cosmetically to abuse. So, be aware. Structurally, I have no reason to doubt its integrity. The harware is solid (I guess Epi has started using better hardware in the past year, for example the Grover tuners), and it holds a tune. It's a solid 7 lbs, and the seams are all tight. So, I really don't expect any reliability issues.

Limited lifetime warranty. Doesn't get much better than that. I hope I never have to take advantage of it, though.

I've been playing a couple of decades now, and I own a variety of gear. You can see this guitar and my others at:

http://www.stark.kent.edu/%7Etgray/guitar.html

I bought this Epi 'cause I needed to fill a hole in my guitar arsenal-I didn't have a mahogany solid body for those times when you need a BIG rock sound. However, I didn't want to spend $1000 to do it. So, I picked the highest grade Epi (short of the Elite series) I could find and hoped for the best. The gamble paid off-this is a solid guitar. Retail price on these is about $1200, which is a joke-for that kind of money you can get much better wood from another maker. On the other hand, if you can find one in the $500 range, it'd be a steal. At what I paid ($779, delivered to my door) I don't consider it a great deal, instead I think I paid a fair price. Hopefully, since it is a signature series instrument, it will hold some of its value, but I really didn't buy it as an investment. Instead, I'm just going to use it for what it is-a good sounding, hard rocking, humbucking Les Paul.

Bought it at Schmitt for $800.00 This was to much considering it was a demo with a couple of manufacturing flaws on it. But I was desperate because of the Back Order problems the previous year from online/mail order dealers. Cosmetically there was a big fat black line running down the binding on the headstock. Later I had it buffed out. There is a small ripple in the binding where the neck joins to the body. The headstock and body binding is a little dirty. The Koreans need to learn to do better a job. I had a $200.00 Japanese HondoII with better binding than that! It is a mahogany body with flame maple top. It has a transparent black stain. It has a 3 way selector, tunomatic bridge with stop tail peice. Eventhough Epi is still pumping out Aces. This particular model has the Ace Face and the signature one the 12th fret, which Epi does not produce anymore. The best part is the real Dimarzio U.S.A. Super Distortion PickUps! It has 22 frets, set neck 3 humbuckers, 2 vol./2tone controls. I can only guess that it was made in 2000.

The wood and hardware provides awsome thick sounding sustain. It totally blows the regular Epis away. It is great Axe for both Hard Rock and Blues Rock. There is no humming or hissing when run through my Randel Amp and Boss Pedal.

The factory set-up on the hardware was good to go. The only flaws were cosmetic, as already stated on the binding. The black transparent stain goes great with my silver and black Ace Strap! Noisey PickUp Selecter? I do not pay attention to that. As long as the guitar is not humming like a cheap imitation Strat single coil is all that matters!

After playing it for a half a year I had to get the volume controls tightened. I guess that is what the warranty is for! Strap buttons are solid, but way to small. I would suggest if anybody buys an EPI to get some washers or a locking strap. Otherwise you might have accident. The finish has stood up for a year so far.

Customer support in my past experience from previous Epis have been a 10 at times to a Zeroe. I had one faulty guitar immediately replaced on the spot(10), to having one shipped to and returned back from the factory with a couple of small chunks missing from the body(Zero)

I wish Scmitt would of advertise the guitar as flawed/demo and knocked down the price! I thought I was going to get a new one in back and not the demo. The sound rules! The binding SUCKS!