Bridge plate wood and SBT's

[Wooly]

This pickup chase is driving me nuts.

I have a Alvarez AP70 parlor with a JJB pickup in it. Sounds very good. I have a Seagull SWS Maritime Mini Jumbo with a K&K and it sounds very good. I installed a JJB into my Alvarez AF60 and it sounded terrible. String balance was out of wack with many overtones. So I removed it (which I managed to do cleanly. Destroyed the pickup though.) thinking maybe it was my mistake on installation. I couldn't think of what I could have done wrong so I assumed it was a defective pickup. I installed my other 2 without any issues.

Jesse at JJB sent me another and it was the exact same scenario all over again. He came to the conclusion that it is one of those guitars that these pickups just won't work in. I knew some one that had a Taylor with a K&K and it sounded similar to the same problem I was having. Installation appeared to have been done properly. He wasn't happy with it either.

Question is, would the grain or type of wood used in the bridge plate have any bearing on this? Maybe the softness or hardness would have an effect. I would like to have a SBT on this AF60 but I'm afraid to go for strike 3. Doesn't make sense why a SBT wouldn't work in this guitar.