Musical equipment and sound

Jack White uses a number of effects to create his powerful live sound, most notably a Digitech whammy pedal to create the rapid modulations in pitch he uses in his solos.[14] The guitars he uses live are two 1964 JB Hutto Montgomery Airlines, a Harmony Rocket, a 1970s-era Crestwood Astral II, and a 1950s-era Kay Hollowbody. When playing with the Raconteurs, White usually plays a Gretsch Triple Jet guitar. In concert with an MXR Micro-Amp and Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi Distortion/Sustainer, White can produce a very distinctive sound. In 2005, for the single "Blue Orchid", White employed the use of a new Electro-Harmonix creation, the Polyphonic Octave Generator (POG). Similar to (but more versatile than) the Whammy pedal, the POG lets the user mix in several octave effects into one along with the dry signal. He plugs this setup into a 1970s Fender Twin Reverb and two 100-Watt Sears Silvertone 6x10 combo amplifiers.[15] Although unaffective to his signature tone, White places custom Analogman Tuner Mute boxes at three different positions on stage for instant, silent tuning.

White also produces a "fake" bass tone by playing the Kay Hollowbody and JB Hutto Montgomery Airline guitars through a Digitech Whammy pedal set to one octave down for a very thick, low, rumbling sound, which he uses most notably on the songs "Seven Nation Army" and "Hardest Button to Button".[14][16]

On occasion, White also plays other instruments, such as a Black Gibson F-Style mandolin ("Little Ghost"), piano (such as on "Denial Twist"), electric piano on such tracks as "The Air Near My Fingers" and "I'm Finding it Harder to be a Gentleman" in which he used a Rhodes Mark II stage piano. White also plays percussion instruments such as the marimba (as on "The Nurse"), drums, tambourine and ney. On Broken Boy Soldiers, he is credited as playing the album's synths and organ however bandmate Brendan Benson also recieved credit for these instruments and it is unclear who played on each song.