Turning a 1973 Gibson Les Paul Custom into the ACE Frehley BUDOKAN!
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- Опубліковано 21 січ 2024
- I'm converting an original 1973 Gibson Les Paul Custom Cherry Sunburst in the Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul. I'm playing it though a 1976 Super Lead and I'm compaing it to my usual 2008 Gibson Les Paul R9.
The '73 through that Marshall absolutely NAILED the Ace tones!
Nice! I love this!! I also bought a '74 cherry custom when the Frehley Budakon was released. It was half the price even with the '70's Dimarzio's I installed. I also put the M-8 788 cream pickup rings with old gold speed knobs. There's a picture circulating with Ace holding his '74 custom when it only had the two Dimarzio's installed without makeup. Very cool!
I found the pick attack of the Super Distortion to be far more aggressive and percussive, while the paf had extra shimmer on the top end. Beautiful tones all around, as always.
Thanks! Great to hear that!
That is the closest so far to get Ace's tone. I have to buy -73 custom too 😃
On Ace's three pickup guitars, often the only pickup connected was the bridge position. Sometimes the middle position wasn't even a real pickup, just a sticker. When I saw him many years ago, his smoking guitar that he used for his big solo sounded really noticeably thinner than the other Les Pauls he was using, probably because it had so much wood removed to make space for the smoke and lighting effects. I like the sound of your 1973, I love Les Pauls with a Super Distortion!
Thanks Michael! Glad to hear it.
Ace's guitar is one of the most legendary guitars in history!!🤘🤘🤘
It is indeed! 🤘
73 definitely had more body and girth to it. Sounds and looks killer! Nice one Johan!
Thanks Jeff! Glad you like it!
Sounded pretty damn bad ass to me man. You have some crazy good guitars and amps. Love your channel....always a thumbs up from me man....
Thanks my friend
Here is Bill Baker with Ace's 74 Marshall 100 watt amp (I thought it was 73, as we have talked about) and pictures of the refret he did on the Budokan 74 LP Custom
Damn Jon! You always nail the BEST rock sound ever created🤟🤟🤘🏻
Thanks man that’s kind of you!
Wow that LPC has definitely that telecaster vibe on the middle position ! Thanks for the channel & keep up the good tones !
That thing nails the Ace tone! Sounds great.
I got double cream Dimarzios ('59 PAFs) for Christmas to put in my fake-burst, really enjoying them. Always loved that look, probably because of Ace.
Glad to hear it!
Ace is probably the most influential guitarist of all time together with Chuck Berry....thousands of kids picked up a guitar because of these guys...
Nice job on the guitar Johan..sounds an look awesome. Congrats !!!
@@thenameless3271 Yup...kids picked up the guitar because of Ace....and then graduated further and discovered other brilliant players. Like Page, Hendrix...e.t.c...
Thanks man! I agree
@@thenameless3271i would normally agree. But when I was a kid i learned about KISS before Zeppelin or Hendrix. Ace on KISS ALIVE changed my world. When i heard Zep 1 and Electric Ladyland, it was all over. Doomed to long hair and electric guitars for the rest of my life...
Tony Iommi has entered the chat.
I think it really depends on when said kid picked up the guitar.
I thought the R9 was a bit sweeter sounding & the '73 with DMSD pick up a little bit 'ruder' sounding, but BOTH are good!
AWK!
\m/
Cheers DMS!
Listening to the Alive album (first Alive) that is the sound. Great job.
Thanks! Great to hear that!
I really loved the Super Distortion. Such a great vintage flavored high output screamer.
If the Duncan Custom is a PAF on Steroids, the DSD is a P90 on Steroids.
Thanks, yeah that’s a good characterisation!
@@JohanSegeborn iirc that's what Larry Dimarzio was going for.
Tickles the same spot, just with no noise & all the output you could want.
I think it's unique in that single notes sound as big as power chords it seems, a quality which worked well for Ace.
Awesome man🤟.
Very cool! Sounds and looks great. Has the 70s rock sound. A bit darker which will work great with old Plexis and the 2204.
Thanks! Yeah I really like the deeper tone from this one
I had a '98 Gibson Ace Frehley Custom w/ 3 Dimarzios. It sounded a bit too harsh, but was butter to play with. Great video!
Thanks Tomas!
I like Johan. I like Ace. I click LIKE!
Thanks man 😄!
The Budokan was as you said a 74 custom with only bridge pick up working. When he bought that, the 73 de luxe became the smoker. He put banjo tuners on. I like the valute. Great sound, Johan. Her er et klip fra Bill Baker, der var luthier in late 80-94. Gift Nytår
Thanks Steffen! Did you have a clip of Bill Baker?
Here is Bill Baker. He got Ace's Marshall, but 74: ua-cam.com/video/RSlULQFhBZQ/v-deo.htmlsi=4Dn4endc8x4sHjN6
Congrats to the coolest guitar on earth
Sound as good as it sounds
Definitely your guitar to play
Warm smooth round tooooone
You’re the killer on the Lester
awesome...closest I have to it is my '76 black beauty, both the R9 and the LPC are great but the ebony board and extra fizzy bite of the super dist certainly make a distinction
Thanks!
Johan have you ever tried a Dimarzio super Distortion 2 in the neck paired with a regular Super D in the bridge ? I hear it's an amazing combo especially in middle position.
The Superdistortion 2 is not as hot as the Super D. The Super 2 is 8.7k with a ceramic magent . I hear the Super 2 is a killer pickup in a dark or muddy guitar but in a brighter guitar can be too bright and a little too harsh as a bridge pickup.
Jerry Garcia was a huge fan of the Super 2 . He used it as the middle after he modded his wolf guitar and used in the middle of his Tiger Guitar and he spent most or his time working off the Super 2 middle pickup.
He had a single coil in the neck the super 2 in the middle and regular super D in the bridge which he could coil split..
Interesting pickup combination and you wouldn't think Garcia would be using overwound ceramic humbuckers. With his tone being so clean and twangy his amps had to have been modified for more headroom
I love the look of the R9 the best, but the '73 sounds absolutely magical. I would not kick the R9 out of bed either, but the pickups in the '73 just rip! God bless and rock on 👍😎🎸
Thanks man I prefer it too!
Sadly it seems Ace doesn't own any of his vintage Kiss era guitars .
The ACE Frehley 59 is considered by many to one of the best and for some thee best 59 les paul made. There are clips of the current owner playing it on You tube and it's absolutely in a class all its own Tonewise. It's simply stunning sounding. Very warm and silky smooth sounding while sounding very open with the perfect amount of compression. It's very clear and defined .Despite sounding velvety smooth it Still has a really nice bite to it and a good bit of Presence.
The Gibson custom shop replica ACE 59 is also an exceptional guitar. Easily one of the best modern era les Paul's. It actually sounds quite close to the original . The replicas usually don't sound near that close to the original example and it sounds killer when ACE plays it live when he is having a decent night.
It's a little bit brighter and more biting than the Original slightly less smooth and perhaps a touch more mid forward but it's still quite close .
The ACE 59 replica actually did vintage Jimmy Page Number 1 tones better than the Actual Jimmy Page number 1 Replica although to be fair Pages number 1 didn't have the original pickups pots or wiring when Gibson copied it and they wound the Page Custombuckers to match the sound of the Guitar as it was in 2003 and not what it sounded like in 1973.
The ACE 59 replica ended up nailing the Jimmy Page 1973 MSG tone.. The BB3 bridge and Custombucker neck in the ACE 59 signature nailed those live Middle postion JImmy Page tones .
Åh! Ians gamla! Den där bandade jag om i förra året. Kul att den hamnat hos dig! 😄
//Simon, Klang i Bygget
Tjena Simon! Du gjorde ett grymt jobb! Vore suveränt om du kunde banda om mitt ’75 Flying V också.
@@JohanSegeborn Stort tack!
Det vore en ära!🙌🏻
Killer Johan!!! Huge Ace fan here as well. I think the maple neck on the custom has a lot to do with the tone as well.
Nice!!!!
Thanks!
I don't know Ace's sound too well, but I really hear early Zep around 6:25-7:25.
Hi Johan, sound killer, as always. One question. What headphones do you use?
Thanks for letting me know.
Thanks glad to hear it! I’m using the entry level Audio Technica actually. 50 something..
What a great Channel! One of my favorites tones is the short unaccompanied solo at the end of Rocket Ride, where you can really hear the attack and tone. Do you think that’s a super D, or possibly his newly acquired 59 with the stock pickups..? My vote is it’s a Super D. ACE claimed to have used the stock 59 for the 78 solo album recorded shorty after the release of ALIVE II.
Thanks man! That would my guess too.
Hey Frehley Frehley!!
Rock soldiers!
If I recall I think his first LesPaul was a deluxe converted to regular humbuckers 🤘🤘
Yeah it was a Deluxe indeed. I don’t know if the pickup cavities were routed for hunbuckers or if it was stock. There were some humbucker Deluxes built
Excellent. Now crank it through your 77 2204 😊
Yeah that’s for some reason a great amp for Ace’s tone too
Gotta say that 1973 sound's great.maybe more odd and even harmonics. Cheers from Hawaii. Thanks Johan. Aloha. Darrell.
Thanks Darrell! That’s a good point. There are some harmonics that sounds harsher and more artificial. That’s one of the differences between tube and solid state amps if I remember correctly as well. Gonna read up on that! Cheers
Listen Johan, my friend... the 70's les pauls were 'just' starting to go down in price again.... I had plans... gonna have to wait another 2-3 years ( I need (for reasons) a 77' Custom and Deluxe in tobacco burst, but I don't want to pay over $3k US for one)
The secret sauce is the headphones lead in the mouth.
Hahaha! 😉
Great sounding Les Pauls! Totally see what you meant by the middle position tone on the Custom LP, very Page like. Are you still running the Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II in your R9?
Thanks David! Yeah the Duncan is still in there
Remeber ACE didn't really have 3 pickups in his custom .there wasn't actually a pickup in the middle as it's a dummy pickup .
Great sounding guitar! My '80s custom shop LP custom has the exact same weight and you really feel it. How are the frets? Mine were made really low which is a struggle.
Thanks man! This one was recently refretted so it plays like a dream
You're showing all 3 of his licks!
The old dimarzio super d has some nice push under gain I love this, but it has a wierd top end when you backed the volume. Less versatile for sure. I guess this is because of the ceramic magnets in the pickups. But it pushes the amp so nicely. The pu in your R9 are more lower output and more transparent. Great sound too. You need to push the amp more to be in the same territory. Are they the custum buckers or the seymour alnico2?
The 73 is beautiful I think I prefer the black accessories aesthetic with his burst, and I prefer when the les paul has less figure or flame on their tops for resaons. The ebony boards are killer on the old one too. In my dreams I would have liked either an old black beauty or a faded cherry busrt kinda like this 73. Moresonthe faded cherry burst. They look so good. But I understand why you have changed the hardware. One has to get the guitar of his dreams.
It looks like a les paul with a dimarzio in the bridge is something you will need! ;)
Thanks Jean-philippe! The R9 has Seymour Duncan A2 pro in it. And yeah super distortion does indeed have a weird top end when played clean. Cheers!
Great sounding guitar Johan? When did you buy it?
Thanks! I bought it just the other day
@@JohanSegeborn I have been looking at these for years but they are so expensive and often require refrets or have headstock damage. Enjoy!
Happy New Guitar Day, Johan!
The main thing is that you like the result. That's all it matters.
50 years old wood is better than what it started as.
The look of the 3 pickups Kiss Les Paul is something no one can forget.
Now to be completely honest and transparent I hate Norlin Era of the Gibson history. That doesn't mean someone else should.
I just hate what bean counters have done to Gibson products at that period.
I hate that they have used third grade wood. I hate that they have used 3 peace tops, often not even centered. I hate pancake bodies.
All just to save on production costs.
I have played few Norlin Era guitars and no they are not all bad. They are all heavier than guitars made with proper wood. One of them sounded pretty good though frets were almost non existent. That guitar was, at that point, like 40 years old and you could hear that. Norlin Era was not the only Dark age of Gibson though. One can find disappointing guitars in all years. 2019 Gibson has turned the page and has started doing better. Still some guitars sound bad. 2021 I bought myself finally the right Les Paul. It was my gift to myself for my 50th.
I went in the shop with best selection of Les Paul's in Country. Only shop that have had many made too measure guitar's. I have spent hours trying Les Paul's. Went thinking I am getting one specific M2M burst I saw and have followed online. There was one better looking one but heavier and in demos it sounded bit worse. Powerful but less details. Ended up with completely different guitar because it sounded way better. R7 Murphy Lab. It was not even in the picture for me at that point. But it was best Les Paul there. I have tried normal R7 Custom Shop and that one was sounding worse than any other even Standard USA models. It was dead inside. No vibrations at all. I thought R7 might be a thing responsible for the sound of my guitar. Turns out its just luck like most of the time with Gibson.
People often do not grasp and connect good tone with a single thing like weight.
Well it is way more complex than that.
Lighter wood should be more resonant in theory. But you are combining few peaces of wood. If they do not play together and kill each other vibrations weight is a moot point for the sound. Even for the sustain it is not related to the weight. I have boutique made guitar that is super light and it sustains for day's. It's all in the combination and the final product. My R7 was 3000 grams heavier than the M2M burst I wanted and still was way more resonant and cleaner sounding with more details.
So yes good guitar is good even if it is Norlin Era guitar.
Thanks! Yeah 70s Gibsons vary a lot in quality. This is one of the best I’ve played. And indeed matching the nodes of resonance of pieces of wood with the frets and pickup is probably more art than science
@JohanSegeborn I wish I was able to put it in fewer words. You said it perfectly 👌
@JohanSegeborn and the proof is in the pudding. Good guitar is simply good. The same as the bad guitar is bad, disregarding who, when, and why. The end result is all it matters.
Does the '73 have 300k volume pots ? The R9 should have 500k pots. That alone will perceive the R9 as noticeably brighter and the '73 warmer. The LPC's I have with their bright / snappy ebony fretboards actually sound too bright and spikey with 500k pots, especially in the bridge volume. 300k lowers the resonant peak for 'better' results, tho typically I prefer 500k all round. In my experience LPC's have a different fundamental tone to Bursts. You never see a blues player with a Custom, but plenty in hard rock and metal.
That’s a great question. It’s stock but I’m gonna look
👍👍🍺. Så jäkla cool
Tackar!
gibson like gibson
The main difference you are hearing is the Alnico magnets in the R9 (A2's?) versus the ceramic magnets Super D's in the '73. Things really get interesting if you swap those spikey sounding ceramic magnets with Alnico 5 bars in the DiMarzios.
Cool, how did the magnet swap influence the tone?
@@JohanSegeborn Super D's with Alnico mags sound great at all pickup volume settings. Musical, fat, useable tones from from 1-10. Whereas, the stock ceramic mags get you that classic late 70's spikey hard rock tone, but only on '10'. They sound less musical and useble the more you turn down the wick, IMHO. Alnicos greatly open up the spectrum of tones on Super D's and Super II's.
both sound great for the Ace stuff. The Dimarzio seems to have more of a low-mid push and slightly louder than the R8. Two different but still similar animals. Construction, weight, materials all matter to some degree. I love them both. Great demo and amp. Thanks Johan!
Thanks man, glad to hear it!
"Ace Frehley lead guitar, shock me"!
🤘
the key is that monster amp
Can we get a shootout of the R9 boosted vs the 74 ?
I thought they had similar amounts of gain. I’m gonna do a more detailed video on the differences later on, I’ll try to include it then.
@@JohanSegeborn Similar gain yes. But 74 was slamming the front end much harder.
I’ve been wondering is it worth getting a 2nd humbucker guitar with high output humbuckers ( I have a LP with BKPs Mule/ Riff Raff).
Or do lower output humbuckers with a boost pedal achieve the same effect?
Noice wan Coily! Awk! \m/
Why!
You have commented here for a long time. Are you confused? Is the identity of this channel unclear?
Because a pickup can be swapped in minutes, & this was cool, that's why.
One legs both the same!
Hendrix riffs on a Les Paul???? That's blasphemy!!
Hahaha! 😉
You just significantly devalued it.
Perhaps, when we installed the super distortion all solderings were pristine.
Do they really do the "original solder" corksniffery on clownbursts?
"Devalued" from 3k to 2.9k because the buyer was annoying about it? Bit higher margins on the bursts, lol.