Gibson Custom Ace Frehley "Budokan" Les Paul Custom Hand-Aged Electric Guitar Heritage Cherry Sunburst

When KISS hit the stage at Nippon Budokan in Japan in 1977 with guitarist Ace Frehley behind a Cherry Sunburst, three-pickup 1974 Les Paul Custom, the entire packageband, guitarist, guitarembodied 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. In celebration of Ace Frehleys unquestionable status as a rock icon, and the epitome of glam-rock stardom that KISS represented at this crystalline moment in time in 1977, Gibson Custom proudly announces the release of the Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul Custom, produced in a strictly Limited Edition of 100 hand-aged guitars. Offering everything youve come to expect from Gibson Customs artist replica guitars, the Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul Custom is a painstaking recreation of Frehleys modified Les Paul Custom, based on intimate examination of the instruments current condition. The Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul Custom has been created with close cooperation between Gibson Custom, Ace Frehley and the guitars current owner, Matt Swanson. Digital scanning technology was used to capture every minute detail of the actual guitar. In the image of the original Les Paul Custom, the guitar has a three-piece maple top glued to a mid-70s pancake 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, hand-aged to match the wear of the existing guitar. The three-piece mahogany neck has been made made to match the originals 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. To m