diff --git a/src/AsciiInputOutput.cc b/src/AsciiInputOutput.cc
index dd7369e8eb..be15f44442 100644
--- a/src/AsciiInputOutput.cc
+++ b/src/AsciiInputOutput.cc
@@ -13,12 +13,21 @@ AsciiInputOutput::AsciiInputOutput(threading::MsgThread* t)
 	}
 
 AsciiInputOutput::AsciiInputOutput(threading::MsgThread* t, const string & separator, const string & set_separator, 
-				const string & empty_field, const string & unset_field) 
+				 const string & unset_field, const string & empty_field) 
 	{
 	thread = t;
 	this->separator = separator;
 	this->set_separator = set_separator;
+	this->unset_field = unset_field;
 	this->empty_field = empty_field;
+	}
+
+AsciiInputOutput::AsciiInputOutput(threading::MsgThread* t, const string & separator, const string & set_separator, 
+				 const string & unset_field) 
+	{
+	thread = t;
+	this->separator = separator;
+	this->set_separator = set_separator;
 	this->unset_field = unset_field;
 	}
 
@@ -275,7 +284,7 @@ threading::Value* AsciiInputOutput::EntryToVal(string s, string name, TypeTag ty
 
 		unsigned int pos = 0;
 
-		if ( s.compare(empty_field) == 0 )
+		if ( empty_field.size() > 0 && s.compare(empty_field) == 0 )
 			length = 0;
 
 		threading::Value** lvals = new threading::Value* [length];
diff --git a/src/AsciiInputOutput.h b/src/AsciiInputOutput.h
index 1dd2a4dce0..ba05fb85de 100644
--- a/src/AsciiInputOutput.h
+++ b/src/AsciiInputOutput.h
@@ -15,7 +15,13 @@ class AsciiInputOutput {
 		// Constructor that defines all separators, etc.
 		// Use if you need either ValToODesc or EntryToVal.
 		AsciiInputOutput(threading::MsgThread*, const string & separator, const string & set_separator, 
-				const string & empty_field, const string & unset_field);
+				 const string & unset_field, const string & empty_field);
+		
+		// Constructor that defines all separators, etc, besides empty_field, which is not needed for many
+		// non-ascii-based io sources.
+		// Use if you need either ValToODesc or EntryToVal.
+		AsciiInputOutput(threading::MsgThread*, const string & separator, const string & set_separator, 
+				 const string & unset_field);
 		~AsciiInputOutput();
 
 
diff --git a/src/input/readers/Ascii.cc b/src/input/readers/Ascii.cc
index 0965b556f2..0d45059a0f 100644
--- a/src/input/readers/Ascii.cc
+++ b/src/input/readers/Ascii.cc
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Ascii::Ascii(ReaderFrontend *frontend) : ReaderBackend(frontend)
 	unset_field.assign( (const char*) BifConst::InputAscii::unset_field->Bytes(),
 			    BifConst::InputAscii::unset_field->Len());
 
-	io = new AsciiInputOutput(this, separator, set_separator, empty_field, unset_field);	
+	io = new AsciiInputOutput(this, separator, set_separator, unset_field, empty_field);	
 }
 
 Ascii::~Ascii()
diff --git a/src/logging/writers/Ascii.cc b/src/logging/writers/Ascii.cc
index 9f045c1813..c9ac42f774 100644
--- a/src/logging/writers/Ascii.cc
+++ b/src/logging/writers/Ascii.cc
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Ascii::Ascii(WriterFrontend* frontend) : WriterBackend(frontend)
 	desc.EnableEscaping();
 	desc.AddEscapeSequence(separator);
 
-	io = new AsciiInputOutput(this, separator, set_separator, empty_field, unset_field);
+	io = new AsciiInputOutput(this, separator, set_separator, unset_field, empty_field);
 	}
 
 Ascii::~Ascii()