Quick and Dirty make OS X Mavericks ISO on desktop. Note that you're going to have to enter your password for the sudo commands.

mavericks make iso v1

hdiutil attach /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg
cd /tmp
hdiutil convert /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.dmg -format UDRW -o /tmp/RWBase
hdiutil convert -format UDSP -o /tmp/sparseRWBase RWBase.dmg
rm /tmp/RWBase.dmg
hdiutil resize -size 6g /tmp/sparseRWBase.sparseimage
hdiutil attach -owners on /tmp/sparseRWBase.sparseimage -shadow
sudo rm /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation/Packages
sudo ditto /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/Packages /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation/Packages
hdiutil eject /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/
hdiutil eject /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/
hdiutil makehybrid -iso -hfs /tmp/sparseRWBase.sparseimage -shadow /tmp/sparseRWBase.sparseimage.shadow -o ~/Desktop/OSX-10.9.iso
rm /tmp/sparseRWBase.sparseimage.shadow
rm /tmp/sparseRWBase.sparseimage

UPDATE for anybody with authentic Mac hardware and a license for Mavericks, there is a much simpler method for upgrading the hard drive:

Ultimately, I ended-up waiting until I had Internet access and using the much simpler method of booting from Internet-based recovery, as described in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5507912?tstart=0 (which references https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314 ).

This enabled me to restore the OS on the new hard drive from a Time Machine backup that I captured before upgrading the hard drive.

For the back-story:

I had the need to upgrade the hard disk in a friend's Macbook Pro (mid-2012), which is still running Mavericks, and I wasn't going to have an Internet connection, so I trawled the Internet for hours trying to find this information and finally stumbled upon https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/132613/183884 which in turn lead me to the comment at https://www.marekbell.com/how-to-create-a-bootable-installation-for-os-x-mavericks-10-9-and-above/#comment-1488722562 .

My plan was to backup to a portable disk using Time Machine from within the existing OS installation, physically install the new (bare) drive, and Restore from Backup (Time Machine) once booted from the Install/Recovery environment (running from a bootable DVD).

I was amazed to find that this procedure still "works" on an up-to-date Mavericks installation (and by "works", I mean to say, produces a bootable ISO image).

Unfortunately, even though I'm able to boot from the burned ISO, I can't install Mac OS once booted into the GUI. Perhaps I have a "bad burn". I receive an error once the UI loads, conveyed by way of a dialog (the only choice is OK): There was a problem installing Mac OS. Try reinstalling. All menus and options are disabled, aside from Restart/Shutdown.

A couple of notes from my experience (in case anybody from some "Mac Museum" has interest in the future):

1. Resetting P-RAM didn't change the above. This idea occurred to me having seen https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3207417?tstart=0 (Apple-branded instructions at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063 ). Nor did installing a brand new hard drive (after resetting P-RAM).

2. Before I found this Gist, I tried the Mavericks-specific command to create a bootable USB drive at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372 , and the process failed with no useful information while at the Terminal (after about 30 minutes and 50% through the process). Subsequent attempts yielded the same result.

3. Even though the instructions described at https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/128323/183884 (same Question as above, but different Answer) do not (for the most part) apply to Mavericks, the info was crucial for obtaining the Mavericks installer app (and therefore .dmg file that ultimately I converted to .iso, per this Gist). In particular, Option-clicking the Purchased section to see the Mavericks app!

4. The step hdiutil eject /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/ "hung" indefinitely for me. I left it sitting for at least 8 hours with no apparent activity (I was watching Activity Monitor on-and-off). Eventually, I killed it with Ctrl+C. I simply continued with the instructions and did not experience issues subsequently.

5. It's crazy how long it takes to boot off the burned disc! About 30 minutes from power-on to GUI loaded (mid-2012 Macbook Pro with 8GB of RAM and SSD)!

6. I prepended the command on line 12 of the Gist with sudo, as the previous commenter noted in https://gist.github.com/satmandu/6827485#gistcomment-937849 , and it seemed to "work". Whether or not it's required, I cannot confirm.

Even though it didn't bail me out, thank you for posting this!