diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/stateful.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/stateful.h
index 8a86e47285..0207cfcf0c 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/stateful.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/stateful.h
@@ -70,6 +70,17 @@ class LIBPBD_API Stateful {
 	void set_id (const std::string&);
 	void reset_id ();
 
+	/* RAII structure to manage thread-local ID regeneration.
+	 */
+	struct ForceIDRegeneration {
+		ForceIDRegeneration () {
+			set_regenerate_xml_and_string_ids_in_this_thread (true);
+		}
+		~ForceIDRegeneration () {
+			set_regenerate_xml_and_string_ids_in_this_thread (false);
+		}
+	};
+
 	/* history management */
 
 	void clear_changes ();
@@ -121,11 +132,14 @@ class LIBPBD_API Stateful {
 	virtual void mid_thaw (const PropertyChange&) { }
 
   private:
+	friend struct ForceIDRegeneration;
+	static Glib::Threads::Private<bool> regenerate_xml_or_string_ids;
 	PBD::ID  _id;
 	gint     _stateful_frozen;
+
+	static void set_regenerate_xml_and_string_ids_in_this_thread (bool yn);
 };
 
 } // namespace PBD
 
 #endif /* __pbd_stateful_h__ */
-
diff --git a/libs/pbd/stateful.cc b/libs/pbd/stateful.cc
index 2cc40ff6a9..628594891b 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/stateful.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/stateful.cc
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ namespace PBD {
 int Stateful::current_state_version = 0;
 int Stateful::loading_state_version = 0;
 
+static void do_not_delete (void*) { }
+
+Glib::Threads::Private<bool> Stateful::regenerate_xml_or_string_ids (do_not_delete);
+
 Stateful::Stateful ()
 	: _extra_xml (0)
 	, _instant_xml (0)
@@ -382,6 +386,11 @@ Stateful::set_id (const XMLNode& node)
 {
 	const XMLProperty* prop;
 
+	if (regenerate_xml_or_string_ids.get()) {
+		reset_id ();
+		return true;
+	}
+
 	if ((prop = node.property ("id")) != 0) {
 		_id = prop->value ();
 		return true;
@@ -399,7 +408,17 @@ Stateful::reset_id ()
 void
 Stateful::set_id (const string& str)
 {
-	_id = str;
+	if (regenerate_xml_or_string_ids.get()) {
+		reset_id ();
+	} else {
+		_id = str;
+	}
+}
+
+void
+Stateful::set_regenerate_xml_and_string_ids_in_this_thread (bool yn)
+{
+	regenerate_xml_or_string_ids.set (&yn);
 }
 
 } // namespace PBD