About Golden Witch Technologies

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Golden Witch Staff
Golden Witch is a truly Mom & Pop operation. What started about seven years ago as a husband and wife company has, with the addition of three rambunctious kids, turned us into the proverbial Mom & Pop shop. With the help of the kids (who aren't listed as staff due to child labor laws ;-) and our dog, Erica & I run our own show. While we flirted with expansion, we've now settled into a nice routine that allows us to earn our living while providing top notch, personalized service to our much-appreciated clients. Nothing happens here that isn't our responsibility and that's something Erica & I take very, very seriously. We both look forward to being of service now and for decades into the future.

Grendel - Security Chief

Five going on six years old, this monstrosity of a mutt has come into his own as our watchdog extraordinaire. He's named for the beast in Beowulf, and like his namesake he lurks in the forest shadows, drooling...or is he drooling in the woods because the puddles were a safety hazard in the shop?

Grendel will not drink coffee.

Russ Gooding - President & Rodmaker

Russ started making custom graphite rods nearly fourteen years ago, attaining some notoriety for his feather inlays before shifting his focus to split-cane rods. After serving an apprenticeship under Daryll Whitehead, the renowned west coast rodmaker, Russ and Erica moved to Pennsylvania where they expanded Golden Witch Rods into Golden Witch Technologies, Inc. In addition to making rods and overseeing the development of the GW catalog, Russ works to educate the curious about rodmaking. He has written many articles for RodMaker Magazine in the past. He spent a year on staff with Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine. He has been a technical advisor to PowerFibers, the bamboo community's e-zine. Recently he wrote and participated in an hour-long "PCN Tours" TV show produced and aired by the Pennsylvania Cable Network. This show tracked a raw culm of bamboo through the GW rod shop to the finished rod. Later this narrative was expanded and improved to form the basis of the GW rodmaking video series. Russ divides his time between answering rodmaking questions on the internet, writing, designing components, consulting with a rolodex brimming with suppliers, and making rods, sometimes in that order, but sometimes in other orders. Although Russ does speak about rodmaking to various fishing and business groups, e.g., TU and Rotary, he is more likely to trip over his tongue than his finger tips, perhaps accounting for the fact that he is easier to get a hold of by email than by phone.

Russ lives on coffee. Starting with a double shot of Rod Shop Roast for breakfast, Russ will make two or three pots of coffee each day. His consumption not withstanding, part of the reason for the volume of coffee needed is that Russ often loses three or four half-filled (note the optimism inherent in the phrase 'half-filled') cups each day, roughly one per thousand foot of shop space.

Erica Gooding - Creative Director

Erica, the artist & photographer behind the GW catalog, chose to emphasize the enjoyable aspects of work with her job title. 'Ledger Slave' didn't have a pleasant ring, though it accurately describes half the hours she puts in. On the other hand, Labor & Industry's compliance division might not like the fact that our book keeper's business card describes her job as 'Creative Director.'

Erica has shot two RodMaker Magazine cover shots, as well as the photos for over a dozen articles in RodMaker and Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine. Her photos illustrate the web site and the print catalog. She is very actively involved with component design, turning rough sketches by Russ into scaled line-art for the machinists to work from (much of which goes on to become catalog line-drawings).

Erica drinks the coffee and often picks up lost mugs.

We're both glad you took the time to visit our website and we look forward to the opportunity to assist you with your rodmaking!

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