Electro-Harmonix logo

Founded in 1968 by Mike Matthews, Electro-Harmonix is a New York-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors and sells rebranded vacuum tubes. It is best known for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s. [Wikipedia]

The “Ram’s Head” has been with Electro-Harmonix since the early 1970s when Mike Matthews, EHX founder and president, decided to use it as the company logo graphic. It has appeared on countless products and marketing materials throughout the company’s storied history.

Mike Matthews:

“I liked it so I just used it as a logo, something to attract attention to the ad. It didn’t have any special meaning other than I thought it was distinctive.”

It’s unclear when exactly the wordmark in all-lowercase Skjald was introduced. Chances are it was around 1973, when the second version of the Big Muff (dubbed “The Ram’s Head”) came out.

Skjald was first issued as metal type in c. 1890 by the Dickinson Type Foundery in Boston, shortly before it merged into American Type Founders (ATF) in 1892. In the 1960s, it was revived for phototype, as one of the many ornate faces from the Victorian and Art Nouveau periods that found new use in counterculture and its commercialization. Skjald is included in the 1965 catalog of Photo-Lettering, Inc. This company was also located in NYC and hence is a possible and likely source.