diff --git a/confluent_client/bin/nodersync b/confluent_client/bin/nodersync
index 42179cf8..3f31c64f 100755
--- a/confluent_client/bin/nodersync
+++ b/confluent_client/bin/nodersync
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ def run():
                     if desc['type'] == 'stdout':
                         if node not in pernodeout:
                             pernodeout[node] = ''
-                        pernodeout[node] += data
+                        pernodeout[node] += stringify(data)
                         if '\n' in pernodeout[node]:
                             currout, pernodeout[node] = pernodeout[node].split('\n', 1)
                             if currout:
diff --git a/confluent_client/bin/nodeshell b/confluent_client/bin/nodeshell
index 551a9e1e..6d1fe138 100755
--- a/confluent_client/bin/nodeshell
+++ b/confluent_client/bin/nodeshell
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def run():
         ex = exp.get('databynode', ())
         for node in ex:
             cmd = ex[node]['value']
-            if not isinstance(str) and not isinstance(bytes):
+            if not isinstance(cmd, str) and not isinstance(cmd, bytes):
                 cmd = cmd.encode('utf-8')
             cmdv = ['ssh', node, cmd]
             if currprocs < concurrentprocs: