Limited Edition Ace Frehley "Budokan" Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar

Epiphone is proud to announce a tribute to Ace Frehley, one of rock's most influential guitarists, with the Epiphone Limited Edition Ace Frehley "Budokan" Les Paul Custom Outfit. As the lead guitarist for KISS (and the original designer of the famous KISS logo) Ace Frehley is renown around the world as one of the Les Paul guitar's most exciting ambassadors as well as one of rock's greatest showman. Ace single handedly inspired a generation of guitarists to pick up rock and roll's most powerful axe. Now, Epiphone makes this iconic guitar available to players everywhere.
The Budokan Les Paul: Ace's original "Budokan" Les Paul made its stage debut in 1977 during KISS's "Rock and Roll Over" world tour, which helped establish KISS as the #1 live act on the planet. Ace made the "Budokan" Les Paul his main axe at the very time KISS's fame was exploding around the world thanks to prime time television appearances, a sold out debut at Madison Square Garden and the release of their classic album, Love Gun, which included Ace's signature hit, "Shock Me," ranked #50 in Guitar World's "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" ever. But 1977 is most remembered as the year KISS sold out four nights at the Budokan Theater in Tokyo, Japan, breaking the record previously held by The Beatles since 1966. Ace returned to Japan with his "Budokan" Les Paul the following year for the Alive II tour where KISS broke the record again with a sold out five night stand. KISS's Budokan appearances helped make Ace's "Budokan" Les Paul his trademark guitar. Now, Epiphone's signature luthiers present perhaps the most talked about signature model yet.

Epiphone worked closely with Ace and his original "Budokan" Les Paul to create a faithful reproduction of his favorite Les Paul as it stands today. Like all Les Pauls, Ace's "Budokan" axe features a mahogany body with the same classic lines of the original with Les Paul Custom style multi-binding both on the top and back. And like Ace's original, the Epiphone Ltd. Edition "Budokan" is made with a 3-piece hard maple cap. They've also stayed true to the Kalamazoo factory's '70s-era 3-piece mahogany neck with a SlimTaper "C"-profile with a volute at the zero fret. The neck is glued-in and hand set with a deep-set neck joint. The 24.75" scale length is also exact to the original's specifications. The bound Ebony fingerboard has 22 medium jumbo frets, a 12" radius and 1.68" bone-style nut. The beautiful faded Cherry Sunburst color finish will make you think you've found a vintage classic. And, Epiphone' also included an exact replica of Ace's "Eagle" sticker that you can attach if you want to be just like Ace! The Epiphone Ltd. Edition "Budokan" Les Paul also features the same inlay found on Ace's vintage "Budokan" Les Paul with the classic mother-of-pearl LP Custom split diamond inlay on the headstock, mother-of-pearl LP Custom blocks on frets 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19 and 21 and to top it all off, a mother-of-pearl Epiphone logo on their classic clipped dovewing headstock. The iconic bell-shaped truss rod cover found on all Les Pauls has "Ace Frehley Budokan" printed in white silkscreen.

Les Paul and DiMarzio Pickups
As you would expect, Epiphone and Ace took great care to recreate the power of Ace's original Budokan Les Paul. Though Ace's original had only the bridge pickup connected, the Epiphone Ltd. Ace Frehley "Budokan' Les Paul Custom is all wired up and ready to rock with three DiMarzio pickups; a DiMarzio PAF style pickup in the neck and middle positions and a DiMarzio "Super Distortion" in the bridge position to draw out the stage rattling tone of the mahogany body. Epiphone also recreated the original "Budokan's" vintage controls featuring gold SpeedKnob controls for bridge/middle volume, bridge/middle tone, neck volume, and neck tone.

Epiphone Guaranteed Hardware
Epiphone's solid hardware is built to last a lifetime and the Ltd. Edition "Budokan" features their very best, including Epiphone's LockTone tune-o-matic bridge and LockTone stopbar tailpiece, Epiphone's exclusive non-rotating heavy duty output jack, and an Epiphone all-metal 3-waypickup selector. And like Ace's original, Epiphone's Ltd. Edition "Budokan" comes with vintage style Grover machine heads with a 14:1 ratio and pearloid buttons.
Les Paul for the Ages: Each Epiphone Ltd. Edition Ace Frehley "Budokan" Les Paul Custom Outfit comes with a custom hard case with "Budokan" in white stencil, a numbered certificate, an unattached "Eagle" sticker, and presentation binder which also includes a photograph of Ace with his Epiphone "Budokan" Les Paul. As with all Epiphones, the Ltd. Edition Ace Frehley "Budokan" comes with their Limited Lifetime Guarantee. There is no other rock and roll guitar like the "Budokan" and only 1,000 guitars will be produced. Get yours today.