diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/internal/RestAnnotationProcessor.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/internal/RestAnnotationProcessor.java
index 63baf2dea7..b2bbeb085c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/internal/RestAnnotationProcessor.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/internal/RestAnnotationProcessor.java
@@ -423,7 +423,15 @@ public class RestAnnotationProcessor<T> {
             requestBuilder = GeneratedHttpRequest.Builder.<T> from(r);
             endpoint = r.getEndpoint();
          } else {
-            requestBuilder = GeneratedHttpRequest.<T> builder();
+            /*
+             * Can't use GeneratedHttpRequest.<T>builder() because the T is too
+             * general for the compiler to be able to distinguish between
+             * GeneratedHttpRequest.builder() and HttpMessage.builder() - the
+             * latter is available because GHR inherits from HM.
+             *
+             * See http://code.google.com/p/jclouds/issues/detail?id=461
+             */
+            requestBuilder = new GeneratedHttpRequest.Builder<T>();
             requestBuilder.method(getHttpMethodOrConstantOrThrowException(method));
          }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rest/binders/BindMapToStringPayloadTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rest/binders/BindMapToStringPayloadTest.java
index ae64498c48..c09803d9d2 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rest/binders/BindMapToStringPayloadTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rest/binders/BindMapToStringPayloadTest.java
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ public class BindMapToStringPayloadTest {
    @Test
    public void testCorrect() throws SecurityException, NoSuchMethodException {
       Method testPayload = TestPayload.class.getMethod("testPayload", String.class);
-      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestPayload> request = GeneratedHttpRequest.<TestPayload> builder()
+      // can't use GHR.builder() - see http://code.google.com/p/jclouds/issues/detail?id=461
+      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestPayload> request = new GeneratedHttpRequest.Builder<TestPayload>()
             .declaring(TestPayload.class).javaMethod(testPayload).args(ImmutableList.<Object> of("robot"))
             .method(HttpMethod.POST).endpoint(URI.create("http://localhost")).build();
 
@@ -68,7 +69,8 @@ public class BindMapToStringPayloadTest {
    @Test(expectedExceptions = IllegalArgumentException.class)
    public void testMustHavePayloadAnnotation() throws SecurityException, NoSuchMethodException {
       Method noPayload = TestPayload.class.getMethod("noPayload", String.class);
-      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestPayload> request = GeneratedHttpRequest.<TestPayload> builder()
+      // can't use GHR.builder() - see http://code.google.com/p/jclouds/issues/detail?id=461
+      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestPayload> request = new GeneratedHttpRequest.Builder<TestPayload>()
             .declaring(TestPayload.class).javaMethod(noPayload).args(ImmutableList.<Object> of("robot"))
             .method(HttpMethod.POST).endpoint(URI.create("http://localhost")).build();
       binder().bindToRequest(request, ImmutableMap.of("fooble", "robot"));
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rest/internal/RestAnnotationProcessorTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rest/internal/RestAnnotationProcessorTest.java
index 0728545c11..6acea0b7a6 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rest/internal/RestAnnotationProcessorTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rest/internal/RestAnnotationProcessorTest.java
@@ -1816,7 +1816,8 @@ public class RestAnnotationProcessorTest extends BaseRestClientTest {
    public void oneTransformerWithContext() throws SecurityException, NoSuchMethodException {
       RestAnnotationProcessor<TestTransformers> processor = factory(TestTransformers.class);
       Method method = TestTransformers.class.getMethod("oneTransformerWithContext");
-      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestTransformers> request = GeneratedHttpRequest.<TestTransformers> builder().method("GET")
+      // can't use GHR.builder() - see http://code.google.com/p/jclouds/issues/detail?id=461
+      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestTransformers> request = new GeneratedHttpRequest.Builder<TestTransformers>().method("GET")
             .endpoint(URI.create("http://localhost")).declaring(TestTransformers.class).javaMethod(method)
             .args(new Object[] {}).build();
       Function<HttpResponse, ?> transformer = processor.createResponseParser(method, request);
@@ -2348,7 +2349,8 @@ public class RestAnnotationProcessorTest extends BaseRestClientTest {
    public void testCreateJAXBResponseParserWithAnnotation() throws SecurityException, NoSuchMethodException {
       RestAnnotationProcessor<TestJAXBResponseParser> processor = factory(TestJAXBResponseParser.class);
       Method method = TestJAXBResponseParser.class.getMethod("jaxbGetWithAnnotation");
-      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestJAXBResponseParser> request = GeneratedHttpRequest.<TestJAXBResponseParser> builder()
+      // can't use GHR.builder() - see http://code.google.com/p/jclouds/issues/detail?id=461
+      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestJAXBResponseParser> request = new GeneratedHttpRequest.Builder<TestJAXBResponseParser>()
             .method("GET").endpoint(URI.create("http://localhost")).declaring(TestJAXBResponseParser.class)
             .javaMethod(method).args(new Object[] {}).build();
       Function<HttpResponse, ?> transformer = processor.createResponseParser(method, request);
@@ -2359,7 +2361,8 @@ public class RestAnnotationProcessorTest extends BaseRestClientTest {
    public void testCreateJAXBResponseParserWithAcceptHeader() throws SecurityException, NoSuchMethodException {
       RestAnnotationProcessor<TestJAXBResponseParser> processor = factory(TestJAXBResponseParser.class);
       Method method = TestJAXBResponseParser.class.getMethod("jaxbGetWithAcceptHeader");
-      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestJAXBResponseParser> request = GeneratedHttpRequest.<TestJAXBResponseParser> builder()
+      // can't use GHR.builder() - see http://code.google.com/p/jclouds/issues/detail?id=461
+      GeneratedHttpRequest<TestJAXBResponseParser> request = new GeneratedHttpRequest.Builder<TestJAXBResponseParser>()
             .method("GET").endpoint(URI.create("http://localhost")).declaring(TestJAXBResponseParser.class)
             .javaMethod(method).args(new Object[] {}).build();
       Function<HttpResponse, ?> transformer = processor.createResponseParser(method, request);