In doing my first restoration, I traced the original scale onto the wood. I found this very frustrating, so I was trying to find a better way, when this occurred to me:

I used a copier to make a paper pattern of the scale and got a perfectly sized print. I can now just stick the paper copy to the wood and cut it out. Also, the pin holes are perfectly located.

Other ideainclude:

Use a copy to experiment with different shapes based on the original scale, by drawing on the copy, knowing that the pin holes will match.

Experiment with using different woods, materials, inlays, etc. on paper. I want to try using rock in combination with different scale shapes, so this will allow me to work everything out on paper before doing any cutting.