My point was that it's difficult for an instrument designer to build a piano from scratch, even understanding the idea behind it, without opening one up and see

My point was that it's difficult for an instrument designer to build a piano from scratch, even understanding the idea behind it, without opening one up and seeing how it works first. I understand the Alan Kay-esque hesitation to avoid having a community crystallize around what's perceived by its creators as just a prototype (referencing Kay's unhappiness with Smalltalk's relative lack of innovation over the decades).