James Petralli

Note: This is outright incorrect. James DOES NOT use a Gibson ES-345.

James Petralli uses a Walnut colored 1972 Gibson ES-335, equipped with Stereo and Varitone.

This was verified by myself when speaking to him after a WD show at the Le Creme Music Festival in Pittsburgh, PA on Sat. Sep 7, 2019.

I believe his ES-335 was misidentified as a ES-345 due to the Varitone control, despite having the wrong inlays.

James Petralli is shown playing a Gibson ES-135 electric guitar during a performance in Southwold, England, as featured in Rolling Stone's article "Young Guns: James Petralli and Austin Jenkins Psych It To You."

James Petralli currently plays a vintage, 1972 Gibson stereo ES-335 w/Varitone control, in Walnut finish (Norlin era), Not an ES-345 as someone else mistakenly posted. I spoke to him after their show in Pittsburgh last month and he personally confirmed this. This is also confirmed in a Guitar.com article where he said “For the last year, I’ve been playing this early 70s ES-335,” James says. “I got a stereo 335 and I’m loving it, and I was just shopping for a 345 of the same generation, because they’re a little less expensive. I also have a 330 with a Maestro Vibrola on it, and an old 50s SG with that vibrato system, too – I just love the Maestro for recording, that really quick vibrato that you can do with it. There’s nothing else like it.” https://guitar.com/features/interviews/white-denim-james-petralli-side-effects/

In this 2016 Guitar World article James is quoted saying: "I like to use a lot of low-wattage, old tube amps when I record. My obsession with that actually started with the Silvertones from the mid-late Sixites. On stage, I’ve been using a [Fender] Princeton and Custom Supro Thunderbolt. Guitar wise, I have a Gibson 330 I record a lot with, and my stage guitar is a 135. I also have a Nineties SG I use as a second guitar. I also use a lot of different things for pedals. Lately, I’ve been using the JHS Colour box and Xotic EP Booster to get the amps where I need them to be."

James can be seen here playing a highly modified Fender Telecaster in his Radio Milk recording studio.

The research would eventually pay off when a 17-year-old James saved up enough cash from his part-time job to buy himself an Epiphone Casino. “I was like, ‘Yup, that looks like the 345 Marty McFly played!’” James quips, but by this point, he was also heavily informed by the classic guitar music he’d immersed himself in. “I was really into The Beatles, and it was the ‘rooftop concert’ guitar as well. So I promptly removed the pickguard and played Bad To The Bone and Malagueña for hours and hours on end!

In this still of an Istagram story on Whitedenimmusic posted on Friday February 17th 2023 James plays the Gibson Hummingbird.

In this still of a Instagram reel with videos of the White Denim gig on September 8th 2023 James plays this vintage 1968 SG standard.

In this screenshot of a reel on the White Denim Instagram account we see James playing a strat.

In this screenshot of a Instagram post published on November 9th 2023 on the White Denim account we can see James playing this guitar.

In a YouTube short by Jacco Slothouber, James Petralli of White Denim is seen playing a Fender 1957 Surf Green Stratocaster.

In this photo of an Instagram post on the White Denim Instagram account we can see James Petralli playing on the Cordoba Protégé classical acoustic guitar. There are more videos on the account where we see the same guitar, for example here https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTgwMDgyMTE0MzMyOTYy?story_media_id=2689557446424742616_227855618&igsh=MW9jMjE2ajZxM3J3ZQ==

In a still from a video posted yesterday on Instagram, James Petralli is seen playing the Danelectro 12SDC 12-String Electric Guitar. 

In a recent Instagram reel posted by @whitedenimmusic, James Petralli is seen in his studio playing a Martin 000JR-10E Shawn Mendes acoustic guitar.