diff --git a/include/boost/python/arg_from_python.hpp b/include/boost/python/arg_from_python.hpp
index 5793aac8..05611edb 100644
--- a/include/boost/python/arg_from_python.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/python/arg_from_python.hpp
@@ -62,35 +62,6 @@ struct arg_from_python<PyObject* const&>
     PyObject* m_source;
 };
 
-#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03000000
-// specialization for const char *, experimenting
-template <>
-struct arg_from_python<const char*>
-{
-    typedef const char* result_type;
-
-    arg_from_python(PyObject* p) : m_source(p), intermediate(0) {}
-    bool convertible() const
-    {
-        return PyUnicode_Check(m_source);
-    }
-    const char* operator()()
-    {
-        const char* result;
-        intermediate = PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(m_source);
-        result = PyBytes_AsString(intermediate);
-        return result;        
-    }
-    ~arg_from_python()
-    {
-        Py_DECREF(intermediate);
-    }
- private:
-    PyObject* m_source;
-    PyObject* intermediate;
-};
-#endif
-
 //
 // implementations
 //
diff --git a/src/converter/builtin_converters.cpp b/src/converter/builtin_converters.cpp
index a39be7e7..db7421d9 100644
--- a/src/converter/builtin_converters.cpp
+++ b/src/converter/builtin_converters.cpp
@@ -370,24 +370,6 @@ namespace
 #endif
   };
 
-#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03000000
-  // A SlotPolicy for extracting C char* string from Python 3 unicode string.
-  struct char_rvalue_from_python
-  {
-      static unaryfunc* get_slot(PyObject *obj)
-      {
-          printf("*********CALLED*************\n");
-          return PyUnicode_Check(obj) ? &py_unicode_as_string_unaryfunc : 0;
-      }
-
-      static const char* extract(PyObject* intermediate)
-      {
-          return PyBytes_AsString(intermediate);
-      }
-      static PyTypeObject const* get_pytype() { return &PyUnicode_Type;}
-  };
-#endif
-
 #if defined(Py_USING_UNICODE) && !defined(BOOST_NO_STD_WSTRING)
   // encode_string_unaryfunc/py_encode_string -- manufacture a unaryfunc
   // "slot" which encodes a Python string using the default encoding
@@ -541,10 +523,6 @@ void initialize_builtin_converters()
     registry::insert(convert_to_cstring,type_id<char>(),&converter::wrap_pytype<&PyString_Type>::get_pytype);
 #else
     registry::insert(convert_to_cstring,type_id<char>(),&converter::wrap_pytype<&PyUnicode_Type>::get_pytype);
-    //TODO(bhy) This doesn't work because for const char* a lvalue converter is
-    // always expected. (See select_extract in extract.hpp for detail)
-    // So we should figure out a workaround.
-    //slot_rvalue_from_python<const char*, char_rvalue_from_python>();
 #endif
 
     // Register by-value converters to std::string, std::wstring