diff --git a/gnupg/gnupg.py b/gnupg/gnupg.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/gnupg/gnupg.py
+++ b/gnupg/gnupg.py
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ class GPG(object):
             args.append("--detach-sign")
 
         if keyid:
-            args.append('--default-key "%s"' % keyid)
+            args.append(str("--default-key %s" % keyid))
 
         result = self.result_map['sign'](self)
         #We could use _handle_io here except for the fact that if the
Change keyid in _sign_file() to remove extra quoting.