I approve of this choice - a well made guitar is never a waste of money. If you decide you hate it 5 years down the line, you'll probably get every penny back plus.
Dew it - I sold a load of gear to buy the Jazzmaster I'd always hankered after, and I'm so pleased I did. Mine's AVRI, I wasn't that arsed about a thinkskin, and prefer natural headstocks to matching ones in most cases; I think that "foot thick poly undercoat" thing might be corksniffer propaganda too. I'd advise you keep an eye on eBay - you could get a brand new AVRI for well under your budget, and buy a Danelectro baritone for me with the change X.