The Sussex-based luthier enjoyed a 67-year career restoring stringed instruments and was also a keen amateur motor racer
The British violin maker and restorer Peter Voigt died on 6 July 2024 at the age of 80. With a career lasting 67 years he belonged to the ninth generation of the Voigt family of violin makers and restorers, which began with Adam Voigt in Markneukirchen, Germany, in 1699.
Voigt was born in 1943 in Manchester, where his grandfather Paul Arno Voigt had set up a violin business. His father Ernst Voigt moved the firm down to London in 1947 and Peter joined him working at the shop in Monmouth Street, Soho, aged 17.
In 1970 the shop relocated to Scaynes Hill, West Sussex, and when Ernst retired in 1981, Peter moved to the village of Lindfield, where he remained until his death. He contributed to the development of young musicians via his work for the Benslow Instrument Loan Scheme.
As well as violin restoration, Peter Voigt was a keen amateur motor racer, winning more than 300 trophies and beating many records. He won the 1974 British Automobile Racing Club’s National Hill Climb Championship in the ‘Voigt/Renwick Special’, a car he designed and constructed himself.
He will be greatly missed by family, friends and his many customers who benefited from his excellent repair and restoration skills.
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