Metropoulos Forum

Hey guy's, just recently I remembered (after pulling it out again after MANY yrs) how the Kiss ALIVE album cover affected me. I alway's loved how that black Les Paul of Ace;s looked. Here's the thing though, it's got three pick ups, like certain customs,BUT,its not a custom. It doesnt have the creme selector ring like most black standards, nor does it ave the gold looking volume and tone knobs,instead it looks like it has the larger clear or black see through looking knobs. I think I made out 'DELUXE' on the truss rod cover. That means that it must have originally had 'mini' hb'ers huh ?

Anyone have any pics or info on this particular Les Paul, that Ace appeared to have never played much ?

Can't tell from this shot but it's still cool.

Early deluxes didn't have the mini-humbuckers. They only did that when they decided to start using up stocks they'd bought up. My friends dad has a 69' Goldtop deluxe with normal buckers and a '71 with mini's.

Was there any 3 humbucker, non 'Custom' model, Les Pauls made ?

Wasn't this his modified pyrotechnics guitar, where fireworks shoot out of a dummy pickup..?? I am not really a KISS fan, so you knowledgable ones chime in.
yngwie308

My 75 LP is a deluxe and it never had Mini's in it.

Not sure, but I think the pyro guitar came a bit later after the success of Alive! He was using it in '78 and '79 when I saw them at the Cow Palace and Oakland Coliseum Arena. I've heard a lot of people say they aren't KISS fans, but they've never heard anything from the '70s except the radio standard RnR All Night. Alive! is a phenomenal album, chock full of LP/Marshall tone. After Love Gun, the music started to suffer quite a bit IMO. That cover brings back good memories. The impact on many of us "back in the day" was similar to VH1. Ace and this album are why I play guitar. Great stuff.

Winder, I am just being truthful, during those years I grew up in London and never heard of KISS at all, I am aware of their great sound and Ace's ace playing, not just the hits, ect and I have heard the Gene Simmons VH demos, ect.
So if I say I am not a KISS fan, I am not! That I like the Marshall/ Les Paul sound, yes I do.
I do know that many of us on the forum and indeed in the US are indebted to Ace for being inspired to play rock guitar, just had other influences!
yngwie308

Some cool pics. First from '74:



This is from the same period '74-'75 (the date on the image doesn't represent the date OF the image). Looks like the same guitar, but no evidence of a pyro mod. Was Ace working with DiMarzio at this time (might explain the cream rings). Does look like it says "Custom" on the rod cover.



Later - wearing the "Destroyer" period duds, which was right after Alive! Smoking git here. Looks like a Super D bridge:

Dimarzio's because Gene was friends with Dimarzio before they both hit it big.

Great stuff guy's, I love how we can be honest about everything here on this particular thread, and not call each other names, like on other sections of this forum.

Alive! was my first album I got when I was 5 yrs old. I thought they were as cool as Ultra man at that time. Thier songs had great big 'DEEP SEA' fishin hooks . I just loved it. I used to fall to sleep listening to 'Alive!', and I would wake up at that point on 'LET ME GO ROCK and Roll' where they start improvising and ACE milks that one note in a very Funky sycopated kind of way. Great Memories. Wish I still had the Silver Burst Custom (was a '78 or '79 I think) that I had back in '84 when I was only 13 and like a idiot returned it to get my money back ($500). Well, I did get my Tokai strat with that money (my fav guitar) so I dont regret as much as I could I guess.

None of those pics are Customs. Customs have a bound headstock with the diamond inlay on the headstock and the bodies are bound front and back. He must have had that 3rd pick put in to mimic the original Black Beauties. I remember a friend getting lucky to get a brandy new Gold Top Deluxe LP in '75 and he had a choice of mini or full size humbuckers. Ace also probably got the idea for the cream rings on a black LP from a mister Beck...(Dave's favorite oxblood... )

edit - aha...some good Custom pics courtesy of ole gutpile hisself.

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=21716" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Spent a lot of time myself picking apart Alive... eventually had the "honor" of recording in Backstreet studios were they cut much of the early stuff with Eddie Solon engineering.

NY Chief wrote:aha...some good Custom pics courtesy of ole gutpile hisself.

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=21716" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My new #1! One of the best sounding Paul's I have ever played!

Is it just me or does this headstock look like it is bound?