Limited Edition "Rated R" Skeleton Key! Celebrating 2 Years Of The Skeleton Key And 25 Years of Rated R

As 2 years of the Skeleton Key coincides with 25 years of QOTSA’s amazing Rated R album, we thought we would give the Skeleton Key a new set of clothes for the occasion.

Strictly limited to 200 units; the Rated R Skeleton Key is the same incredible circuit, with the same incredible artwork at the same incredible price; Presented in a metallic candy blue enclosure with white knobs, white LED and white writing. 

The Skeleton Key, FLB's long awaited follow up to the 1991 went on sale on August bank holiday weekend 2023 and was received more warmly and enthusiastically than I could have ever hoped for. The months following its release were a whirlwind quite frankly and amid the chaos of it all there simply wasn’t time to take a step back and enjoy all the positivity coming FLB’s way for the Skeleton Key. 

But now we are taking that time!

Given the unexpected success of the 1991 there was a huge amount of pressure on the Skeleton Key to repeat that success and to satisfy the curiosity of loyal customers and supporters who had been patiently waiting for 2 years to see what was next.

I was absolutely shitting myself in the lead up to us releasing the Skeleton Key, so convinced was I that it was going to flop because people just wouldn’t get it. With so many people out in the world having dedicated endless hours and huge sums of money in attempting to recreate the QOTSA tone and yet here was I; saying yeah you don’t need any of that you can just buy this little red box with 3 knobs and it’ll do the hard work for you.

Alongside that was my fear around the fact that circuit wise it all fell on me. Unlike the 1991 I had designed this one on my own and I was well aware that I had made some decisions around the circuit design that would have veteran pedal builders saying “why the fuck would you do that?” As well as some dedicated boutique pedal enthusiasts fuming at my decision to use only modern, easily available components and make the pcb entirely SMT.

Such was my insecurity that the Skeleton Key is the only FLB pedal where the pcb design has not been done by my great friend and collaborator Marc Dunberry of Soundlad Liverpool fame, because I was so convinced that if I showed him the schematic he was going to laugh at me and tell me it was shit!

Fortunately, all my fears proved unfounded.

Shortly after it was released it was featured in Total Guitar magazine’s “Start Me Up” guide to the best new releases; something I wouldn’t have had a clue about had it not been for Stephanie Norris, guitarist with Isle of White band Coach Party, who were featured in the same issue getting in touch about it. This has led to a strong friendship between FLB and Coach Party with the band very kindly giving FLB a mention in the sleeve notes of their latest album Caramel, which you should definitely all go and listen to.

A full review of the Skeleton Key appeared in the next issue of Total Guitar and received a 5-star review which after all the anxiety I felt surrounding its release was an incredible moment of vindication! Perhaps even more incredible than that though was the fact that the Skeleton Key was featured on the cover of the magazine; something which was quite frankly mind blowing and made poignant and all the more special for the fact the magazine no longer exists.

The icing on the cake came in the final issue of the year, where the Skeleton Key was listed at number 3 in the Total Guitar’s “Gear Of The Year” for 2023 stating that

“FLB set their sights on recreating one of rock’s most revered guitar tones… With humbuckers and single coils alike, the results are oddly uncanny.”

All of that would have been more than enough quite frankly and yet the good stuff just kept coming.

Music Radar gave the pedal 4 stars out of 5 and declared

“The skeleton key does as promised and can open the door to some convincing QOTSA tones… but it’s not just for Queens fans. This is an articulate dirt box that could be a pedalboard weapon so long as you can resist telling people all about it.”

Erik Nordstrange of Living Room Gear Demos, the internet’s preeminent QOTSA tone authority put it through its paces and came out impressed saying that

“Pair it with a neutral amp and [it is] probably the easiest way to get an overall Queens of the Stone Age tone.”

Paul Riario of Guitar World gave a wonderful, 5 star review that made me swell with pride when he said

“It’s very difficult for one pedal to reproduce an artist’s sonic fingerprint… But I have to hand it to the blokes behind the Skeleton Key for getting wildly close to that elusive QOTSA sound. Moreover, as a fascinating by-product of this venture, FLB may have unintentionally introduced an original sounding drive pedal that I find compelling.”

Even Guitarist magazine, a publication that we wouldn’t have expected to end up in, due to it generally catering to the high end rather than affordable market; gave us an 8/10 review. High praise indeed!

Perhaps the most bonkers part of the madness surrounding the Skeleton Key was when it was brought up in an interview with Troy Van Leuwen in guitar world magazine and he said that not only had he heard of it but that, even though he was unconvinced by our claims, he would like to try it!

We did make some efforts to get a pedal to him; whether one ever did or not I don’t know, it isn’t something you try and chase up when sending your gear to rockstars, you just have to be satisfied that you have put it out there and come what may.

Regardless of whether he has tried it or not, the fact remains that FLB doesn’t make pedals for the rock stars; they already have their sound.

We make pedals for all of you who want their sound and buy our pedals because you know we can be relied upon to deliver them to you in an easily accessible package that looks great and is affordable.

More than any 5-star review or rockstar endorsement, the feedback we get from those of you who have spent your hard-earned money on the things we create and the fact you keep coming back for more just absolutely blows my mind.

It is you who will always be the most important thing about FLB! Now I know I have used this quote before and as such am at risk of becoming boring, but boring or not, it’s the truth.

“It’s one thing to start out with a positive jam; it’s another to see it on through. We couldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for you.” – The Hold Steady