In a recent chat with Guitarist, Ace Frehley revealed what he regretted after his departure from KISS.
The guitarist talked about selling his signed ’59 Gibson Les Paul guitar for $18,000 after leaving the band in 1982:
“That was the biggest regret. It was after I quit KISS; I was still getting f*cked up and I wanted to go to Atlantic City because I love to gamble.”
His Signature Helps Him Earn More Money
Frehley originally bought it for $4,000. He flew to a vintage gear store in New York on a helicopter to sell it. The rocker made $18,000 from selling his guitar. Even though it’s worth more now, he’s okay with that. He knows his signature can make any guitar he sells more expensive:
“When I sign any guitar I buy, it doubles or triples in price.”
Ace also disclosed how many guitars he has right now:
“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!”
Frehley Speaks On His Guitar Skills
Still, the musician is not totally happy with his guitar technique. He regrets not taking any musical education as he told in an appearance at Hollywood’s Musicians Institute in 2018:
“I never took a guitar lesson, and just about every day, somebody comes up to me and says, ‘If it wasn’t for you, I never would have picked up a guitar.’ I feel guilty because I never took a guitar lesson. I go, ‘You’re idolizing an idiot.’ I don’t even know what I’m playing half the time. I can’t verbalize it – it just comes out of the speakers.”
In a January 2024 interview with Total Guitar, Frehley described his guitar-playing style with the following words:
“I’m a sloppy f*cking guitar player! I’ll be the first to admit that. I make mistakes, and sh*t happens – especially live. I play the songs how they’re meant to be played. I deliver the classic KISS songs and my solo songs how you remember them.”
Ace’s most recent solo album, ‘10,000 Volts,’ arrived on February 23, 2024. He also plans to work on ‘Origins Vol. 3,’ which will be the sequel to his 2016 and 2020 collections of cover songs.