Back from exile! (irrational and self-imposed exile...) ? re Arabic Ouds b/w $500 and $1,000

So I seem to stray from, forget, but then rediscover this site every 5-10 years. Guess what it is?

A lot has changed since I last treated myself with y'all and this forum. First, my Oud was destroyed! I believe that I posted the story re it's NEAR death experience on here...African Gray parrot figured out how go pop my bedroom door open, did it while I was gone AND while they were hanging with my whackadoo Labrador mix Obi...

[I am not lying bout this! LOL!]

Obi then chewed on the wooden tuning pegs...not enough to ruin them, but just enough to make the instrument hold a tune as well Jamie Foxx the other night...

Next a pretty harsh and FAST temperature and humidity change in my area (South Hill/Puyallup in Washington state, pretty close to Mt Rainier) led to the animal glue holding my bridge on (no doubt out of whack from the incident above)...well...got yanked off the body's facing by the tension of the stringz...

Next? (Oh this is embarrassing...) I tripped over one of however many guitar toys/gadgets and several hundred uber nerdy non fiction books i use as carpet and...you get the picture I'm sure!/

Anyhow this was just an Ali Khalifa Syrian Oud, but despite the tourist instrument rep, this thing sounded amazing, played amazing, and stayed in tune for a month at a time quite easily.

I'm working as a studio musician (mostly trying to build up a nice diverse "reel" or whatever you call it--translated? I practically work for free I feel like I'm finally opening some eyes, and making it all lead where I wanna go though) and have seriously overhauled and professionalized my guitars, effects, and amps...crap I actually bought a MIDI interface and software 2 weeks ago!

Guess what this guy's missing...? Yep...an Oud...around a yr ago I *stupidly* left a Godin multioud get bought by someone else for...I'm gonna cry...like $460? (One of the mid or upper level models too...I think it MSRPs for around $1500...), and I had been missing that sweet sound for way too long already...I hardly needed any help in that department!

Now I make a living (well sort lol) playing with all kinds of musicians, usually by adding some guitar parts that makes their melodies, beats, etc a bit more catchy, highlights their music, makes it stand out...and I'm without my secret weapon!

So...wise council of Mike's Oud forums: what's a relatively surefire bet Oud purchase for less than $1000-1200? Do they exist? I dont need an awe inspiring museum piece either...the Ali Khalifa was plenty eye candy for me.

The Godins definitely look cool but I can't find one to try out.

nd I see Ali Khalifas just like mine for $300 something...

If anyone can analyze the above... and/or suggest a model, I would be in your debt forever, new BFF...!

In any case, thanks for reading all of that and thanks in advance for sharing any of the knowledge here--including my questions from 10+ yrs ago.