SAVOIR-FAIRE
SAVOIR-FAIRE
Of all wooden instruments, the electric guitar is the only one born industrial. A body on one side, a neck on the other, assembled on a line. A logic of production, not of lutherie.
France stands apart. For four centuries it has built a tradition of instrument-making in which the intelligence of the hand is the measure of everything: Selmer for saxophones, Vuillaume for violins, Pleyel for pianos.
The guitar itself was once an instrument of the court: Louis XIV played it, and Robert de Visée, who played at the king's bedside at Versailles, held the title of Master of Guitar to the King.
The electric guitar grew up outside this lineage.
De Leeuw exists to bring it back in.
The Pont-Sainte-Maxence atelier.
The Pont-Sainte-Maxence atelier.
Fine cabinetmaking, marquetry, ornamental carving, lutherie
THE ATELIER
In our atelier in Pont-Sainte-Maxence, each instrument is entirely sculpted by hand: from the French walnut and maple logs we select to the instrument it becomes. With no digital machinery, every stage is shaped under the hand of Quentin De Leeuw, our master luthier, and the artisans he has trained at the atelier.
THE GESTURE
Before building his first guitar, Quentin De Leeuw followed one conviction: that a guitar sculpted in the French tradition of instrument-making could only come from a hand that had mastered every woodworking discipline its making demands.
Over the years, he acquired mastery in lutherie, fine cabinetmaking, marquetry and ornamental sculpture. Four disciplines that rarely meet in a single pair of hands, which he pushed to the most demanding finishing techniques, such as those of Louis XVI cabinetmaking, which he reinterprets today on his instruments.
This mastery earned him, in 2026 at the age of 31, the title of Maître Artisan d'Art (master craftsman in the French métiers d'art).
A De Leeuw is not assembled; it is shaped, sculpted. It belongs to a category of its own: French craftsmanship, taking the form of a guitar.
FIRST GUITAR IN
VARNISHED STRAW MARQUETRY
Straw marquetry is one of the rarest disciplines of French fine cabinetmaking. Strand by strand, rye straw is split, flattened and laid by hand onto the wood. Coated in a fine film of silica of its own, the straw carries a natural glow: natural or dyed, the surface catches the light and returns it in satin reflections that shift with the eye.
That glow comes at a price. Straw is fragile, ill-suited to the contact of the hand, and that same silica keeps varnish from adhering — the craft traditionally goes without it, as varnish tends to deaden its reflections. In 2024, the atelier developed a method to varnish the straw while losing none of its light, and to apply it to its guitars with the longevity of an instrument.
A Nina Air in straw marquetry was presented on the presidential podium at the Élysée Palace in November 2025.
THE ARCHITECTURE: THE NECK-THROUGH
Every De Leeuw guitar is built as a neck-through instrument. It is the architectural choice Quentin De Leeuw made from the start, and one that has defined every instrument leaving our atelier since.
A neck-through guitar is built around a single-piece neck that runs from the head of the instrument to the end of the body. At De Leeuw, this neck is assembled in multi-ply French maple and walnut, ensuring resistance to temperature changes and stability over time. This heel-less architecture gives the musician seamless reach to every note, including the highest. The continuity of the wood gives the instrument its natural sustain.
It is the construction that asks most of a luthier — one that allows no shortcut, forgives no error, resists industrialisation. Quentin De Leeuw chose it for that very reason. The highest expression of an instrument is not reached by taking the easiest path. It is reached by the one that asks everything of the hand.
Each guitar takes between three and four months to shape. Around fifty leave the atelier every year. It is this work — slow, exacting, entirely of the hand — that places the De Leeuw electric guitar within the tradition of the great French instrument makers.
THE MATERIAL
The bodies and necks of our instruments are shaped from entirely French walnut and sycamore maple. Selecting the finest part of the grain, on each log, is the cornerstone of the instrument's harmony: the interplay between the density of maple and the lightness of walnut produces a balanced, dynamic sound. The exposed wood back of each guitar celebrates the beauty of the woods of our French forests.
Plastic is excluded from the hardware. With the exception of the electronics and the resin nut, which ensure tuning stability, every element is made of brass: pickup surrounds, knobs, jack plate. We patiently select each maker we work with, to give our instruments the finest electronics and hardware.
ORIGINE FRANCE GARANTIE
De Leeuw is certified Origine France Garantie — France's official Made in France label, awarded after independent audit. It certifies that the French share of each instrument's cost, and its essential characteristics, are French: the wood from our forests, the work of our atelier, the hand of our artisans. The guarantee that a De Leeuw is French in its material as in its making.
The first electric guitar maker ever recognised at this level, De Leeuw is a laureate of the Grande Exposition du Fabriqué en France. The Nina Air in straw marquetry was presented on the presidential podium at the Élysée Palace.
Frequently asked questions
Every De Leeuw guitar is handcrafted — entirely sculpted by hand, from the French walnut and maple logs we select to the finished instrument. With no digital machinery (no CNC), every stage is shaped at the atelier in Pont-Sainte-Maxence under the hand of Quentin De Leeuw and the craftsmen he has trained. Each guitar takes three to four months to shape.
Every guitar is built by Quentin De Leeuw, Maître Artisan d'Art (master craftsman in the French métiers d'art), and the craftsmen he has trained at our atelier in Pont-Sainte-Maxence. Quentin brings together four woodworking disciplines that rarely meet in a single pair of hands: lutherie, fine cabinetmaking, marquetry, and ornamental sculpture. Around fifty instruments leave the atelier every year.
A neck-through guitar is sculpted around a single-piece neck that runs from the head of the instrument to the end of the body, with no heel. At De Leeuw, this neck is assembled in multi-ply French maple and walnut, ensuring stability over time. The heel-less architecture gives the player a seamless reach to every note, including the highest. The continuity of the wood gives the instrument its natural sustain.
Maître Artisan d'Art (master craftsman in the French métiers d'art) is an official French title, registered with the national business register, awarded to a craftsman who has reached the highest level of mastery in an art-craft discipline. Quentin De Leeuw received it for his work in lutherie and fine cabinetmaking, validated by the regional Chamber of Trades.
Origine France Garantie is the official French "Made in France" label, awarded after an independent audit by a certification body. It guarantees that the essential value of the product and its decisive manufacturing steps take place in France. De Leeuw is certified for its guitars and basses.