About this episode

In this episode, Glenn Haworth interviews Jackie and Kai, the new owners of The Basement Unplugged, discussing their vision for the business and the local music scene.

In this special episode of the Business Breakthrough Podcast, I sit down with Jackie and Kai, the new owners of what was once Haworth Guitars, now reborn as The Basement Unplugged . Haworth Guitars was my family's baby for decades. My dad Phil started building guitars out of our garage in Kiama Downs back in the 80s. I took the business on in my mid-20s, scaled it to multiple stores, a music school, e-commerce, and a 70K+ Instagram following before selling it in 2024. Now, a few years on, Jackie and Kai have stepped in to write the next chapter, and they're absolutely smashing it. We unpack: How a vision board literally manifested this business into their hands Why Kai (a young muso building bass guitars) saw the opportunity nobody else did The mother-and-son dynamic of running a business together Why they're doubling down on local community, face-to-face experience, and the "rockstar moment" instead of chasing online The shift happening in retail right now and why "come in, jam, and feel it" beats "click and ship" Their plans to bring music, events, and culture back to the Illawarra music scene 🎸 Plus a massive announcement: Free Restring Day on…

People in this episode

Host: Glenn Haworth

Guests: Jackie, Kai

Topics covered

• guitar business
• local community
• music events
• retail trends
• family business
• entrepreneurship

Keywords

• Haworth Guitars
• The Basement Unplugged
• music community
• guitar restring
• entrepreneurship
• local events
• retail shift

Sponsors

D'Addario

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Haworth Guitars, The Basement Unplugged

Places: Kiama Downs, Illawarra

More episodes of The Business Breakthrough Podcast

• The Mindset Shift That Actually Grows Your Business (Post-Retreat Reflections) | Ep 97 · May 17, 2026 · 17 min
• The 7 things every business owner needs to master | Ep 96 · May 13, 2026 · 28 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Business Breakthrough Podcast podcast page.