Yep you got a dirty pot. The reason you don't hear any scrathiness when you are not playing is that there is no signal going through the tone pot for it to make scratchy....if that makes sense, I'm no electrical expert

Sounds like you already know what to do with the contact cleaner. But what is NOT normal is that your Strat is only 2 weeks old. It should take years of use before a tone pot gets scratchy. Maybe the tone pot is covered under warranty for replacement if you want to go that route. Good luck.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.