diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanContainingQueryBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanContainingQueryBuilder.java
index 1d55bbea819..81aa01c859c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanContainingQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanContainingQueryBuilder.java
@@ -82,14 +82,6 @@ public class SpanContainingQueryBuilder extends AbstractQueryBuilder<SpanContain
         return new SpanContainingQuery((SpanQuery) innerBig, (SpanQuery) innerLittle);
     }
 
-    @Override
-    protected void setFinalBoost(Query query) {
-        if (boost != AbstractQueryBuilder.DEFAULT_BOOST) {
-            //preserve potential inner boost coming from lucene (default is big.boost)
-            query.setBoost(boost);
-        }
-    }
-
     @Override
     public QueryValidationException validate() {
         QueryValidationException validationException = null;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanWithinQueryBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanWithinQueryBuilder.java
index 8751a165c0a..83c77168f91 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanWithinQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanWithinQueryBuilder.java
@@ -87,14 +87,6 @@ public class SpanWithinQueryBuilder extends AbstractQueryBuilder<SpanWithinQuery
         return new SpanWithinQuery((SpanQuery) innerBig, (SpanQuery) innerLittle);
     }
 
-    @Override
-    protected void setFinalBoost(Query query) {
-        if (boost != AbstractQueryBuilder.DEFAULT_BOOST) {
-            //preserve potential inner boost coming from lucene (default is little.boost)
-            query.setBoost(boost);
-        }
-    }
-
     @Override
     public QueryValidationException validate() {
         QueryValidationException validationException = null;
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilderTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilderTests.java
index 287acd0f072..7b669cdda79 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.*;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.automaton.TooComplexToDeterminizeException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.all.AllTermQuery;
+import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -189,24 +190,34 @@ public class QueryStringQueryBuilderTests extends AbstractQueryTestCase<QueryStr
         QueryShardContext shardContext = createShardContext();
         QueryStringQueryBuilder queryStringQuery = queryStringQuery(STRING_FIELD_NAME + ":boosted^2");
         Query query = queryStringQuery.toQuery(shardContext);
-        assertThat(query, instanceOf(TermQuery.class));
-        assertThat(((TermQuery) query).getTerm(), equalTo(new Term(STRING_FIELD_NAME, "boosted")));
-        assertThat(query.getBoost(), equalTo(2.0f));
+        assertThat(query, instanceOf(BoostQuery.class));
+        BoostQuery boostQuery = (BoostQuery) query;
+        assertThat(boostQuery.getBoost(), Matchers.equalTo(2.0f));
+        assertThat(boostQuery.getQuery(), instanceOf(TermQuery.class));
+        assertThat(((TermQuery) boostQuery.getQuery()).getTerm(), equalTo(new Term(STRING_FIELD_NAME, "boosted")));
         queryStringQuery.boost(2.0f);
         query = queryStringQuery.toQuery(shardContext);
-        assertThat(query.getBoost(), equalTo(4.0f));
+        assertThat(query, instanceOf(BoostQuery.class));
+        assertThat(((BoostQuery) query).getBoost(), Matchers.equalTo(4.0f));
 
         queryStringQuery = queryStringQuery("((" + STRING_FIELD_NAME + ":boosted^2) AND (" + STRING_FIELD_NAME + ":foo^1.5))^3");
         query = queryStringQuery.toQuery(shardContext);
-        assertThat(query, instanceOf(BooleanQuery.class));
-        assertThat(assertBooleanSubQuery(query, TermQuery.class, 0).getTerm(), equalTo(new Term(STRING_FIELD_NAME, "boosted")));
-        assertThat(assertBooleanSubQuery(query, TermQuery.class, 0).getBoost(), equalTo(2.0f));
-        assertThat(assertBooleanSubQuery(query, TermQuery.class, 1).getTerm(), equalTo(new Term(STRING_FIELD_NAME, "foo")));
-        assertThat(assertBooleanSubQuery(query, TermQuery.class, 1).getBoost(), equalTo(1.5f));
-        assertThat(query.getBoost(), equalTo(3.0f));
+        assertThat(query, instanceOf(BoostQuery.class));
+        boostQuery = (BoostQuery) query;
+        assertThat(boostQuery.getBoost(), equalTo(3.0f));
+        BoostQuery boostQuery1 = assertBooleanSubQuery(boostQuery.getQuery(), BoostQuery.class, 0);
+        assertThat(boostQuery1.getBoost(), equalTo(2.0f));
+        assertThat(boostQuery1.getQuery(), instanceOf(TermQuery.class));
+        assertThat(((TermQuery)boostQuery1.getQuery()).getTerm(), equalTo(new Term(STRING_FIELD_NAME, "boosted")));
+        BoostQuery boostQuery2 = assertBooleanSubQuery(boostQuery.getQuery(), BoostQuery.class, 1);
+        assertThat(boostQuery2.getBoost(), equalTo(1.5f));
+        assertThat(boostQuery2.getQuery(), instanceOf(TermQuery.class));
+        assertThat(((TermQuery)boostQuery2.getQuery()).getTerm(), equalTo(new Term(STRING_FIELD_NAME, "foo")));
         queryStringQuery.boost(2.0f);
         query = queryStringQuery.toQuery(shardContext);
-        assertThat(query.getBoost(), equalTo(6.0f));
+        assertThat(query, instanceOf(BoostQuery.class));
+        boostQuery = (BoostQuery) query;
+        assertThat(boostQuery.getBoost(), equalTo(6.0f));
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanContainingQueryBuilderTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanContainingQueryBuilderTests.java
index 75a4ab9f06f..ef4a92bb64d 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanContainingQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanContainingQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
-import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.instanceOf;
 
 public class SpanContainingQueryBuilderTests extends AbstractQueryTestCase<SpanContainingQueryBuilder> {
@@ -41,16 +40,6 @@ public class SpanContainingQueryBuilderTests extends AbstractQueryTestCase<SpanC
         assertThat(query, instanceOf(SpanContainingQuery.class));
     }
 
-    @Override
-    protected void assertBoost(SpanContainingQueryBuilder queryBuilder, Query query) throws IOException {
-        if (queryBuilder.boost() == AbstractQueryBuilder.DEFAULT_BOOST) {
-            //lucene default behaviour
-            assertThat(query.getBoost(), equalTo(queryBuilder.bigQuery().boost()));
-        } else {
-            assertThat(query.getBoost(), equalTo(queryBuilder.boost()));
-        }
-    }
-
     @Test
     public void testValidate() {
         int totalExpectedErrors = 0;
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanWithinQueryBuilderTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanWithinQueryBuilderTests.java
index 9d18e9ed373..4f0b1ee3b77 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanWithinQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SpanWithinQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
-import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.instanceOf;
 
 public class SpanWithinQueryBuilderTests extends AbstractQueryTestCase<SpanWithinQueryBuilder> {
@@ -41,16 +40,6 @@ public class SpanWithinQueryBuilderTests extends AbstractQueryTestCase<SpanWithi
         assertThat(query, instanceOf(SpanWithinQuery.class));
     }
 
-    @Override
-    protected void assertBoost(SpanWithinQueryBuilder queryBuilder, Query query) throws IOException {
-        if (queryBuilder.boost() == AbstractQueryBuilder.DEFAULT_BOOST) {
-            //lucene default behaviour
-            assertThat(query.getBoost(), equalTo(queryBuilder.littleQuery().boost()));
-        } else {
-            assertThat(query.getBoost(), equalTo(queryBuilder.boost()));
-        }
-    }
-
     @Test
     public void testValidate() {
         int totalExpectedErrors = 0;