Kiss, the guitar used by Ace Frehley on his last tour is up for auction

Some guitars are symbols more than instruments. This is the case of the “smoker” of the late Kiss guitarist, Ace Frehley: one Gibson Les Paul customized to include a smoke bomb from the pickup at the back of the neck. Such an iconic guitar to be protagonist of an auction organized by the official website of Gotta Have Rock And Roll.

The auction will start today, Wednesday 19 November, and will last until December 5th. The winning bidder will take home the authenticated guitar and photographs of Frehley with the personalized axe.

Although Frehley used several versions of the guitar smoker throughout its long career (the first version debuted around 1975), this specific guitar up for auction has been used extensively throughout its last series of shows with the band between 1999 and 2001, and is available with a sunburst paint job.

Last weekend, the surviving members of Kiss paid tribute to Frehley during their first “maskless” concert since retiring from touring. Before the show, electric candles were distributed to the audience and, once they went on stage, Paul Stanley he asked the audience to raise them in the air and take a moment to “think about someone who is at the foundation of this band.”

Ace Frehley, guitarist and founding member of the group, died in Morristown, New Jersey, on October 16. He was 74 years old and the cause of death was revealed after almost a month. After his passing, a petition was launched on Change.org to convince NASA to give the guitarist honorary astronaut status. The petition, started by a fan named Kathryn, has received over 3,000 signatures and continues to grow.