He was a true self-made guitarist, the consummate rock star. Everything about him I worshipped as a young boy.
In fact, he was probably the only reason I listened to Kiss as Stanley/Simmons, while great songwriters were not my type of musicians and rubbed me the wrong way, and Peter Criss was perhaps the weak link in the band. Having said all that, I cut my teeth on their shit as a young boy during the Kiss era of the 70s.
RIP Ace!