Strats tend to be naturally bright, most humbuckers give out the best performence when used with 500k pots (especially high output/dark pups) I'm using 250k pots with my humbucking strat and I'm thinking about bright/harsh and muddy/uncutting issues. For example, the screaming demon isn't exactly described to be equipped with a smooth top, especially w/ 500 pots. And using a CC with 250k pots doesn't seem to be a cutting solution. The only HB's I can really think about putting in my strat AS IS would be: 59, JB, Jazz.