2022 François Leonard SP/AR

A 2022 classical guitar by French luthier François Leonard, with a spruce top and African rosewood back and sides – pre-owned, with barely any signs of prior use.

In the video above, Irina Kulikova plays the traditional English carol "The First Noel" on this guitar.

Science and Intuition

François is very interested in acoustics and psychoacoustics – how sound is perceived – and meets regularly with acousticians to understand how these ideas apply to his guitars. That scientific side complements what he learned by ear, choosing tops at Lakewood alongside Tobias Berg.

Plump, Juicy and Expressive

The guitar is built with double sides in the French manner and carefully French polished, and its workmanship is sharp and clean. Every note is full-bodied and juicy, from the basses up to the top of the trebles, and the sound is stylish and nuanced, with power enough for solo or ensemble playing.

Simplicity as a Mantra

George Sand wrote that "Simplicity is the most difficult thing to secure in this world; it is the last limit of experience." François takes the quote very seriously; it is the mantra that shapes his approach to building.

Photos of this guitar being built

François Leonard: A French Luthier in Lorient

François Leonard was born in Nantes, France, in 1973. After studying the guitar for a few years he moved to England in 1995, at 22, to learn guitar making at the Newark School under Roy Courtnall, and stayed five years, also building traditional instruments such as the Swedish nyckelharpa and the hammered dulcimer. In 2006 he set up his own workshop in Lorient, Brittany.

Lakewood, Tobias Berg and Dominique Field

Around 2000 he moved to Germany, where for five years he worked at Lakewood Guitars alongside Tobias Berg, in charge of body construction on several thousand guitars – learning above all how to choose tops and hear their thicknesses – and where Michel Brück taught him French polishing. In the French tradition of Daniel Friederich and Dominique Field, whom he visits regularly, he builds with double sides, and he meets with acousticians to add science to the intuitive side of his craft.