diff --git a/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/font/BitmapText.java b/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/font/BitmapText.java
index 4dfd87aaa..dc4e4bd56 100644
--- a/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/font/BitmapText.java
+++ b/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/font/BitmapText.java
@@ -95,7 +95,12 @@ public class BitmapText extends Node {
         for( int i = 0; i < textPages.length; i++ ) {
             textPages[i] = cloner.clone(textPages[i]);
         }
-        this.block = cloner.clone(block);
+        
+        // Cannot use the cloner to clone the StringBlock because it
+        // is package private... so we'll forgo the (probably unnecessary)
+        // reference fixup in this case and just clone it directly.
+        //this.block = cloner.clone(block);
+        this.block = block != null ? block.clone() : null;
 
         // Change in behavior: The 'letters' field was not cloned or recreated
         // before.  I'm not sure how this worked and suspect BitmapText was just