diff --git a/libs/pbd/locale_guard.cc b/libs/pbd/locale_guard.cc
index 44b9fc2b64..b8493cf176 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/locale_guard.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/locale_guard.cc
@@ -25,24 +25,29 @@
 
 using namespace PBD;
 
-LocaleGuard::LocaleGuard (const char* str)
-{
-	old = setlocale (LC_NUMERIC, NULL);
+// try to avoid calling setlocale() recursively.  this is not thread-safe.
+std::string PBD::LocaleGuard::current;
 
-        if (old) {
-                old = strdup (old);
-                if (strcmp (old, str)) {
-                        setlocale (LC_NUMERIC, str);
-                }
-        }
+LocaleGuard::LocaleGuard (const char* str)
+ : old(0)
+{
+	if (current != str) {
+		old = strdup (setlocale (LC_NUMERIC, NULL));
+		if (strcmp (old, str)) {
+			if (setlocale (LC_NUMERIC, str))
+				current = str; 
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 LocaleGuard::~LocaleGuard ()
 {
-	setlocale (LC_NUMERIC, old);
+	if (old) {
+		if (setlocale (LC_NUMERIC, old))
+			current = old;
 
-        if (old) {
-                free (const_cast<char*>(old));
-        }
+		free ((char*)old);
+	}
 }
 
+
diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/locale_guard.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/locale_guard.h
index cac77ded24..8ef100f3f7 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/locale_guard.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/locale_guard.h
@@ -22,12 +22,16 @@
 
 #include "pbd/libpbd_visibility.h"
 
+#include <string>
+
 namespace PBD {
 
 struct LIBPBD_API LocaleGuard {
     LocaleGuard (const char*);
     ~LocaleGuard ();
     const char* old;
+
+	static std::string current;
 };
 
 }