2018 François Leonard SP/MP

A 2018 classical guitar by François Leonard, with a spruce top and maple back and sides – our first maple guitar from François, pre-owned and in excellent condition with barely any signs of use.

In the videos above, Jaxon Williams plays Johanson's Prelude 18 and gives a first look at this guitar.

The Golden Glow of Maple

It has the same punch and quality of sound as the rosewood guitars we had seen from François, with an added golden glow and warmth in every note. The tone is full-bodied and juicy from the basses to the highest trebles, stylish and nuanced, with plenty of power for solo or ensemble playing.

A French Approach

Being a French luthier, François is strongly influenced by Daniel Friederich and Dominique Field in both aesthetics and structure, including the double sides of this guitar. He takes great pride in his French polish, and his fit and finish are sharp and clean. George Sand's words – that simplicity is "the last limit of experience" – are his mantra.

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.