SO SADLY: Ace Frehley shares his sad moment about the instruments he regrets selling due to

We’ve heard a lot from the resurgent Ace Frehley, whether he’s shooting down Kiss myths, sharing his solo philosophy, or admitting he should have practiced more as he promotes raucous new album 10,000 Volts.

But there’s a reason we keep Frehley on speed-dial: the guy has truly seen and done it all.

So when we quizzed him on his greatest gear hits and misses, we knew there would be gold buried in them there conversations. And gold Frehley most certainly delivered

My dad got me a piece of crap, and then I got a Hagstrom, which had much better action, but I didn’t like the pickup; it didn’t have the power of a humbucker because it had single-coil pickups. After that, I got a Telecaster, but that didn’t last too long.

“Then I got a Mustang that I modified and put a humbucker in. I got a Marshall, and that was the sound I’d been looking for. Once we [Kiss signed our record deal with Casablanca Records, I got a Honeyburst Les Paul and a Marshall stack – and we were off to the races.

“It was a Gibson Les Paul. It’s a very slight blue metallic, almost like my nail polish [laughs]. I picked up that guitar on Reverb and it sounds fabulous. I recorded with that on my new record, [10,000 Volts]. When you get something good – I mean, like a good Les Paul – all set up correctly, and into a Marshall amp, it’s a no-brainer. You don’t have to use any special effects if you have the technique, so I rarely use special effects.”

“I bought a 1952 Telecaster in the original case, which was like cardboard with the tags. It was in completely mint condition. I remember talking to the guy I got it from, and he said he got it from a woman whose son went off to war.

“Unfortunately, he never came back, so she had it under his bed and didn’t know what it was worth. Today, that guitar… Well, I sold it for a lot of money, but it today would probably be worth anywhere from $350,000 or more.”