I've always wondered if it's feasible and if so if it's even practical to make a plaster of Paris mold and pour tinted epoxy in it to reproduce broken translucent scales. My guess is I'm going to get answer saying why go to all that trouble when you can cut them out of stock that's already made. Theoretically if you went that route you could put the inlay in the mold which should already have an impression for it and then pour The epoxy in to reproduce the same thing.
I've heard a story that Billy Gibbons was talking to BB King about using heavy gauge strings to get a fatter tone for playing blues. BB King's reply was, "No man. I use light gauge strings. Why do you want to work so hard?"