The business I am engaged in is the most fulfilling I could ever imagine.

I regard myself as someone who has realized a childhood dream and achieved worldwide success. When people ask what I do, I often say: “I am fulfilling my childhood fantasy.”

As a child, musical instruments fascinated me far more than toys. I would constantly dream about one day building an instrument of my own. I later developed a special interest in making the mandolin, partly because it was the first instrument I ever owned.

When I built my first oud in 1984, my only support was ambition. At first, I thought the task resembled fine woodworking. However, I soon realized the true complexity of instrument making. A musical instrument is an extremely intricate structure. Even with knowledge of materials and woodworking skill, one can only produce a poor imitation of a true instrument without deeper understanding.

I was faced with the challenge of understanding the physical structure of a complex system and a phenomenon that cannot be directly observed. While others admired the visual qualities of my ouds—and some even described their sound as “beautiful”—these comments did not satisfy me. I was determined to achieve the best possible result.

After making my first three ouds, I devoted a year entirely to experimentation and theoretical research, without measuring instruments or reference guides. I conducted numerous experiments to understand the effect of bracing beams on sound. By comparing results, I began to form general principles. I later expressed these principles in mathematical form and developed what I call the “Brace Tuning Method.” Although I describe it briefly here, this process actually spanned twelve years of work. By 1996, it became possible to construct an oud with the desired tonal qualities.

The process of building an oud involves more than eight hundred distinct stages, from raw lumber to the final stringing of the instrument. For twelve years, I carried out all of these processes alone. Each oud required 30 to 40 days of work, at around 12 hours per day—amounting to 300–400 hours of labor per instrument. Eventually, I realized the need to accelerate and systematize the process.

Over the years, I have learned much from those who visited my workshop. Most of these were fragmented ideas, questions, and often inaccurate assumptions. Nevertheless, because my attention remained focused on the subject, these interactions pushed me to investigate further. Through testing ideas, conducting experiments, and seeking answers, I developed a new method grounded in mathematical formulation.

Oud making has been both the realization of my childhood dream and a space where I have cultivated patience, dedication, perseverance, professional friendship, and deep emotional attachment.