diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/Ruby.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/Ruby.java
index b71f65c..bf0f161 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/Ruby.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/Ruby.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
  ***** END LICENSE BLOCK *****/
 package org.jruby;

+import org.jcodings.specific.UTF8Encoding;
 import org.jruby.ast.ArrayNode;
 import org.jruby.ast.BlockNode;
 import org.jruby.ast.CallNode;
@@ -2750,7 +2751,7 @@ public final class Ruby implements Constantizable {
             }
             parserConfig.setDefaultEncoding(getEncodingService().getEncodingFromString(config.getSourceEncoding()));
         } else {
-            parserConfig.setDefaultEncoding(getEncodingService().getLocaleEncoding());
+            parserConfig.setDefaultEncoding(UTF8Encoding.INSTANCE);
         }
     }

diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/lexer/GetsLexerSource.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/lexer/GetsLexerSource.java
index 7bff477..792f8fd 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/lexer/GetsLexerSource.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/lexer/GetsLexerSource.java
@@ -18,17 +18,25 @@ public class GetsLexerSource extends LexerSource {
     private IRubyObject io;
     private Encoding encoding;
     private int offset;
-
-    public GetsLexerSource(String sourceName, int line, IRubyObject io, RubyArray scriptLines) {
-        // FIXME: Does this source needs SCRIPT_LINES support?
+
+    // Main-line Parsing constructor
+    public GetsLexerSource(String sourceName, int line, IRubyObject io, RubyArray scriptLines, Encoding encoding) {
         super(sourceName, line, scriptLines);
-
+
         this.io = io;
-        encoding = frobnicateEncoding();
+        this.encoding = encoding;
+    }
+
+    // FIXME: ripper probably has same problem as main-line parser so this constructor may need to be a mix
+    // of frobbing the encoding of an incoming object plus defaultEncoding if not.  but main-line parser
+    // should not be asking IO for encoding.
+    // Ripper constructor
+    public GetsLexerSource(String sourceName, int line, IRubyObject io, RubyArray scriptLines) {
+        this(sourceName, line, io, scriptLines, frobnicateEncoding(io));
     }

     // FIXME: Should be a hard failure likely if no encoding is possible
-    public final Encoding frobnicateEncoding() {
+    public static final Encoding frobnicateEncoding(IRubyObject io) {
         // Non-ripper IO will not have encoding so we will just use default external
         if (!io.respondsTo("encoding")) return io.getRuntime().getDefaultExternalEncoding();

diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/parser/Parser.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/parser/Parser.java
index be3aab4..94fe87c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/parser/Parser.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jruby/parser/Parser.java
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ public class Parser {
     public Node parse(String file, byte[] content, DynamicScope blockScope,
             ParserConfiguration configuration) {
         RubyArray list = getLines(configuration, runtime, file);
-        ByteList in = new ByteList(content, runtime.getDefaultExternalEncoding());
+        ByteList in = new ByteList(content, configuration.getDefaultEncoding());
         LexerSource lexerSource = new ByteListLexerSource(file, configuration.getLineNumber(), in,  list);
         return parse(file, lexerSource, blockScope, configuration);
     }
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ public class Parser {
         } else {
             RubyArray list = getLines(configuration, runtime, file);
             RubyIO io = RubyIO.newIO(runtime, Channels.newChannel(content));
-            LexerSource lexerSource = new GetsLexerSource(file, configuration.getLineNumber(), io, list);
+            LexerSource lexerSource = new GetsLexerSource(file, configuration.getLineNumber(), io, list, configuration.getDefaultEncoding());
             return parse(file, lexerSource, blockScope, configuration);
         }
     }