diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 235953ee4c..b0aa52389d 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@
  * (cql3) Add name of parameters in CqlResultSet (CASSANDRA-4242)
  * (cql3) Correctly validate order by queries (CASSANDRA-4246)
  * rename stress to cassandra-stress for saner packaging (CASSANDRA-4256)
+ * Fix exception on colum metadata with non-string comparator (CASSANDRA-4269)
 Merged from 1.0:
  * Fix super columns bug where cache is not updated (CASSANDRA-4190)
  * fix maxTimestamp to include row tombstones (CASSANDRA-4116)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/CFDefinition.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/CFDefinition.java
index da293c9146..52ffd6f48a 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/CFDefinition.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/CFDefinition.java
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ public class CFDefinition implements Iterable<CFDefinition.Name>
 
                 for (Map.Entry<ByteBuffer, ColumnDefinition> def : cfm.getColumn_metadata().entrySet())
                 {
-                    ColumnIdentifier id = new ColumnIdentifier(def.getKey());
+                    ColumnIdentifier id = new ColumnIdentifier(def.getKey(), cfm.getColumnDefinitionComparator(def.getValue()));
                     this.metadata.put(id, new Name(id, Name.Kind.COLUMN_METADATA, def.getValue().getValidator()));
                 }
             }
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ public class CFDefinition implements Iterable<CFDefinition.Name>
                 assert cfm.getColumnAliases() == null || cfm.getColumnAliases().isEmpty();
                 for (Map.Entry<ByteBuffer, ColumnDefinition> def : cfm.getColumn_metadata().entrySet())
                 {
-                    ColumnIdentifier id = new ColumnIdentifier(def.getKey());
+                    ColumnIdentifier id = new ColumnIdentifier(def.getKey(), cfm.getColumnDefinitionComparator(def.getValue()));
                     this.metadata.put(id, new Name(id, Name.Kind.COLUMN_METADATA, def.getValue().getValidator()));
                 }
             }
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ public class CFDefinition implements Iterable<CFDefinition.Name>
     {
         return cfm.getKeyAlias() == null
              ? new ColumnIdentifier(DEFAULT_KEY_ALIAS, false)
-             : new ColumnIdentifier(cfm.getKeyAlias());
+             : new ColumnIdentifier(cfm.getKeyAlias(), definitionType);
     }
 
     private static ColumnIdentifier getColumnId(CFMetaData cfm, int i)
@@ -131,14 +131,14 @@ public class CFDefinition implements Iterable<CFDefinition.Name>
         List<ByteBuffer> definedNames = cfm.getColumnAliases();
         return definedNames == null || i >= definedNames.size()
              ? new ColumnIdentifier(DEFAULT_COLUMN_ALIAS + (i + 1), false)
-             : new ColumnIdentifier(cfm.getColumnAliases().get(i));
+             : new ColumnIdentifier(cfm.getColumnAliases().get(i), definitionType);
     }
 
     private static ColumnIdentifier getValueId(CFMetaData cfm)
     {
         return cfm.getValueAlias() == null
              ? new ColumnIdentifier(DEFAULT_VALUE_ALIAS, false)
-             : new ColumnIdentifier(cfm.getValueAlias());
+             : new ColumnIdentifier(cfm.getValueAlias(), definitionType);
     }
 
     public Name get(ColumnIdentifier name)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/ColumnIdentifier.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/ColumnIdentifier.java
index 2ad2a14ef3..6744a11f85 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/ColumnIdentifier.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/ColumnIdentifier.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import java.util.Locale;
 import java.nio.charset.CharacterCodingException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
+import org.apache.cassandra.db.marshal.AbstractType;
 import org.apache.cassandra.utils.ByteBufferUtil;
 
 /**
@@ -37,17 +38,10 @@ public class ColumnIdentifier implements Comparable<ColumnIdentifier>
         this.key = ByteBufferUtil.bytes(this.text);
     }
 
-    public ColumnIdentifier(ByteBuffer key)
+    public ColumnIdentifier(ByteBuffer key, AbstractType type)
     {
-        try
-        {
-            this.key = key;
-            this.text = ByteBufferUtil.string(key);
-        }
-        catch (CharacterCodingException e)
-        {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
-        }
+        this.key = key;
+        this.text = type.getString(key);
     }
 
     @Override