minor cleanup
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/core/json/JsonGeneratorImpl.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/core/json/JsonGeneratorImpl.java
index b43bc81..c09d2cf 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/core/json/JsonGeneratorImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/core/json/JsonGeneratorImpl.java
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@
         super(features, codec);
         _ioContext = ctxt;
         if (isEnabled(Feature.ESCAPE_NON_ASCII)) {
-            setHighestNonEscapedChar(127);
+            // inlined `setHighestNonEscapedChar()`
+            _maximumNonEscapedChar = 127;
         }
     }
 
@@ -106,7 +107,7 @@
      */
 
     @Override
-    public final JsonGenerator setHighestNonEscapedChar(int charCode) {
+    public JsonGenerator setHighestNonEscapedChar(int charCode) {
         _maximumNonEscapedChar = (charCode < 0) ? 0 : charCode;
         return this;
     }