diff --git a/lib/nano.js b/lib/nano.js
index 81d12d78..6a0198a2 100644
--- a/lib/nano.js
+++ b/lib/nano.js
@@ -511,7 +511,10 @@ module.exports = exports = nano = function dbScope(cfg) {
       var paramsToEncode = ['counts', 'drilldown', 'group_sort', 'ranges', 'sort'];
       paramsToEncode.forEach(function(param) {
         if (param in qs) {
-          qs[param] = JSON.stringify(qs[param]);
+          // Don't encode strings as this could lead to have too many quotes
+          if (typeof qs[param] === 'object') {
+            qs[param] = JSON.stringify(qs[param]);
+          }
         }
       });