diff --git a/src/com/adobe/serialization/json/JSONEncoder.as b/src/com/adobe/serialization/json/JSONEncoder.as
index db69494..e9eac91 100644
--- a/src/com/adobe/serialization/json/JSONEncoder.as
+++ b/src/com/adobe/serialization/json/JSONEncoder.as
@@ -164,21 +164,20 @@ package com.adobe.serialization.json
 					default: // everything else
 						
 						// check for a control character and escape as unicode
-						if ( ch < ' ' )
-						{
+						if ( ch < ' '  || ch > '}' ) {
 							// get the hex digit(s) of the character (either 1 or 2 digits)
 							var hexCode:String = ch.charCodeAt( 0 ).toString( 16 );
 							
 							// ensure that there are 4 digits by adjusting
 							// the # of zeros accordingly.
-							var zeroPad:String = hexCode.length == 2 ? "00" : "000";
-							
+							while( hexCode.length < 4 )
+							{
+								hexCode = "0"+hexCode;
+							}
 							// create the unicode escape sequence with 4 hex digits
-							s += "\\u" + zeroPad + hexCode;
-						}
-						else
-						{
-							
+							s += "\\u" + hexCode;
+						} else {
+						
 							// no need to do any special encoding, just pass-through
 							s += ch;