diff --git a/lib/net/ber.rb b/lib/net/ber.rb
index b8992a92..b4b9e9da 100644
--- a/lib/net/ber.rb
+++ b/lib/net/ber.rb
@@ -296,9 +296,11 @@ def to_arr
 class Net::BER::BerIdentifiedString < String
   attr_accessor :ber_identifier
   def initialize args
-    super args
-    # LDAP uses UTF-8 encoded strings
-    self.encode('UTF-8') if self.respond_to?(:encoding) rescue self
+    super begin
+      args.respond_to?(:encode) ? args.encode('UTF-8') : args
+    rescue
+      args
+    end
   end
 end