I have two anecdotes. One is a shipyard in Denmark, possibly in the 1700's, where the master builder would hammer a stake in the ground, walk as many steps as n

I have two anecdotes. One is a shipyard in Denmark, possibly in the 1700's, where the master builder would hammer a stake in the ground, walk as many steps as needed for that ship, and hammer another stake. The rest would follow geometrically. The other is a builder of harpsichords, late 1900's, who explained that when starting a new instrument, he would define the "inch" for that one, the width of the "white" keys. 8 of those would make the width of an octave, and the usual 5-6 octaves would give the width of the keyboard. From that he could figure out the length of the instrument, and the curve of the side. All this with nothing more than a compass and a straight edge. He claimed it was the more historical way to do it, as they did in the 1600's. His instruments were well regarded by musicians today, and fetched a good price.