Considered "the king of instruments" by many in the Arab world, the oud is the oldest and most central instrument in the Middle Eastern music tradition. Played to the accompaniment of poetry in Arabia as early as the 3rd century AD, the oud is said by some to be the ancestor of the Pharaohnic Egyptian Nefer, and by others, of the ancient Persian barbat. Regardless of its precise origins, the oud is well known as the forebear of the European lute, which emerged after the introduction of the oud to Andalusian Spain.

Legend has it that Arabs of yore believed the particular resonance of the oud lay in its wood, which had absorbed the sound of the birds that perched upon it as a tree. The variables in the construction of the oud, including types of wood, contribute to the general sound of the instrument. The lighter ouds of Turkey, for example, possess a brighter pitch than the heavier ouds of Egypt and Syria. Subtler acoustic elements of a given oud, however, are generally unplanned, not unlike the ouds of legend.

The oud's sound resonates within its hollow body, which is composed of a rounded back and a soundboard enclosing it. The back is made of fifteen to twenty-five strips of wood, usually ebony, rosewood, walnut, maple or a combination thereof. The soundboard, the flat sheet of wood that covers the open side of the back, is characterized by a main circular opening called the rosette, and in most ouds, two smaller rosettes beneath it. Towards the base of the soundboard is the bridge (al-ghazal), a narrow piece of wood where the instrument's strings are attached. Seven to nine beams span the soundboard's width to provide support from below.

The craftsmanship involved in making string instruments of the Western tradition has received a great deal of attention. The various parts of the violin for example, have been studied and tested for their acoustic potential. The sound quality of a particular violin can be explained with reference to specific aspects of its construction. In the case of the oud, however, one would cite types of wood or general craftsmanship to explain the instrument's quality. The specific elements of an excellent oud have not been comprehensively explored nor scientifically investigated. They are, consciously or unconsciously, the trade secrets of particular oud makers.