The following information highlights several specific design elements of the EleOcto instruments. Please review these details, as some features may not be immediately intuitive.

If you have any questions or would like a demonstration of the features explained below, please do not hesitate to contact us.

EL-2 & EL-3 (Forza)
Our piezo pickup system is a combination of two separate piezo systems. Our “Kapsule” pickup, located near the end of the fingerboard, is a custom made unit of multiple piezos, hand-soldered and assembled into a fabricated housing. It is a sensitive and somewhat fragile pickup requiring delicate care. Our other piezo pickup is located under the ebony saddle. These pickups are wired in series and will always work together—there is no way to separate each individual signal. They are already adjusted to balance the combined output of the two pickups. Please do not try to adjust the pickups as this could harm their output or cause them to break. Any EQ adjustments should be made with an external EQ pedal. We like the Boss GE-7 and have it for sale in our online store, but any acoustic EQ/Preamp pedal will work.

Blending the piezo pickups and the Seymour Duncan Apollo 2 pickup is made possible with the on-board Fishman PowerChip preamp. This preamp requires 9 volt power to sufficiently boost the piezo volume and create the stereo output on this instrument. Please note: THE BATTERY IS CONNECTED. It is accessed through the spring-loaded door on the back of the body. The battery will be activated (draining power) as soon as the instrument is plugged in. Normal usage suggests battery life is around 200 hours. However, if you leave your instrument plugged in, even when not in use, your battery life during playing time will be drastically reduced.

Your instrument comes equipped with a stereo output which allows for more flexibility with EQing the pickups. To make playing in stereo possible you must use a stereo cable. When using a stereo cable you can send the magnetic Seymour Duncan pickup to an electric guitar amp and send the piezo output to another amp (preferably an acoustic amp), or to an EQ pedal and on to a PA. Northfield has a custom made stereo cable, included in our stereo bundle available for sale in our online store. When using the Northfield stereo cable, the Silver/Black end marked “EleOcto” plugs into your instrument, the Silver/Red end plugs into your piezo “send” (where you want the piezo signal to go) and the Silver/White end is the “send” (where you want the magnetic signal to go). You can use the stereo cable with multiple amps, multiple input channels on the same amplifier, or a combination of using an amplifier and a PA. The output can also be used with a standard mono cable and the output of both pickups will be controlled and blended with their individual volume controls.

All models feature onboard controls for volume and tone of the magnetic Seymour Duncan pickup. The EL-2 and EL-3 have an additional Piezo volume control. The pickups do not need to be selected. Simply adjust the volume controls up or down depending on how you want the magnetic and piezo pickups to blend. The piezo signals are blended together and both are controlled with their volume control. The tone control only works on the magnetic pickup and has no effect on the piezo pickups. The Stereo Bundle includes our custom made stereo cable and a Boss GE-7 EQ Pedal, and can be found for sale in our Northfield Online Store.

For more information or our recommendations for using the EleOcto, please contact us directly.