diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/AbstractMessageConverter.java b/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/AbstractMessageConverter.java
index 74a316e17d..d03d70cdcd 100644
--- a/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/AbstractMessageConverter.java
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/AbstractMessageConverter.java
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractMessageConverter implements MessageConverter {
 
 	private final List<MimeType> supportedMimeTypes;
 
-	private ContentTypeResolver contentTypeResolver;
+	private ContentTypeResolver contentTypeResolver = new DefaultContentTypeResolver();
 
 	private boolean strictContentTypeMatch = false;
 
@@ -83,10 +83,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractMessageConverter implements MessageConverter {
 	 * Configure the {@link ContentTypeResolver} to use to resolve the content
 	 * type of an input message.
 	 * <p>
-	 * By default, no {@code ContentTypeResolver} is configured. When a resolver
-	 * is not configured, then {@link #setStrictContentTypeMatch(boolean)} should
-	 * be left {@code false} (the default) or otherwise this converter will ignore
-	 * all input messages.
+	 * Note that if no resolver is configured, then
+	 * {@link #setStrictContentTypeMatch(boolean) strictContentTypeMatch} should
+	 * be left as {@code false} (the default) or otherwise this converter will
+	 * ignore all messages.
+	 * <p>
+	 * By default, a {@code DefaultContentTypeResolver} instance is used.
 	 */
 	public void setContentTypeResolver(ContentTypeResolver resolver) {
 		this.contentTypeResolver = resolver;
diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/MappingJackson2MessageConverterTests.java b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/MappingJackson2MessageConverterTests.java
index 38a52817c2..abcd3dbb04 100644
--- a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/MappingJackson2MessageConverterTests.java
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/MappingJackson2MessageConverterTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2013 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ public class MappingJackson2MessageConverterTests {
 	@Before
 	public void setup() {
 		this.converter = new MappingJackson2MessageConverter();
-		this.converter.setContentTypeResolver(new DefaultContentTypeResolver());
 	}
 
 	@Test
diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/MessageConverterTests.java b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/MessageConverterTests.java
index 6d4ae23483..1f591ae7b5 100644
--- a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/MessageConverterTests.java
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/MessageConverterTests.java
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ public class MessageConverterTests {
 	@Before
 	public void setup() {
 		this.converter = new TestMessageConverter();
-		this.converter.setContentTypeResolver(new DefaultContentTypeResolver());
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -81,12 +80,9 @@ public class MessageConverterTests {
 
 	@Test
 	public void supportsMimeTypeNoneConfigured() {
-
 		Message<String> message = MessageBuilder.withPayload(
 				"ABC").setHeader(MessageHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MimeTypeUtils.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
-
 		this.converter = new TestMessageConverter(Collections.<MimeType>emptyList());
-		this.converter.setContentTypeResolver(new DefaultContentTypeResolver());
 
 		assertEquals("success-from", this.converter.fromMessage(message, String.class));
 	}
@@ -94,7 +90,6 @@ public class MessageConverterTests {
 	@Test
 	public void canConvertFromStrictContentTypeMatch() {
 		this.converter = new TestMessageConverter(Arrays.asList(MimeTypeUtils.TEXT_PLAIN));
-		this.converter.setContentTypeResolver(new DefaultContentTypeResolver());
 		this.converter.setStrictContentTypeMatch(true);
 
 		Message<String> message = MessageBuilder.withPayload("ABC").build();
@@ -110,7 +105,6 @@ public class MessageConverterTests {
 	public void setStrictContentTypeMatchWithNoSupportedMimeTypes() {
 		Message<String> message = MessageBuilder.withPayload("ABC").build();
 		this.converter = new TestMessageConverter(Collections.<MimeType>emptyList());
-		this.converter.setContentTypeResolver(new DefaultContentTypeResolver());
 		this.converter.setStrictContentTypeMatch(true);
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/StringMessageConverterTests.java b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/StringMessageConverterTests.java
index 11bcc1e98c..9715b6d31f 100644
--- a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/StringMessageConverterTests.java
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/StringMessageConverterTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2013 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ public class StringMessageConverterTests {
 	@Before
 	public void setUp() {
 		this.converter = new StringMessageConverter();
-		this.converter.setContentTypeResolver(new DefaultContentTypeResolver());
 	}