Quarantine had me playing a lot more mandolin, I started looking into upgrading from my Loar LM-110-BRB (which I love and will always love). I was looking into high-end F style mandolins around the 5k range but had trouble justifying it to myself.
I have also been on a hiatus from woodworking for roughly 10 years due to apartment living and have looked into instrument building on multiple occasions. I watched a few mandolin build videos and realized that if I could find the right kit, I might be able to build one with hand tools and patience. Using the calculation of “how much fun will I get out of this money” I decided that taking some of the cash I was going to spend on a new mando, picking up a new hobby, and getting back into some woodwork would be a better use of my funds.