Equal Temperament or Stretch Temperament?

[Felix]

Hi - I'm a newbie with a tuning question. I have read several articles about Rhodes tuning, but I'm confused. Should I tune my Mark I Stage Piano to Equal Temperament or try Stretch tuning? I understand Stretch tuning is great for piano, but will the Rhodes benefit much from this tuning? Additionally, does Stretch tuning sound OK when accompanied by other instruments (like guitar) tuned to Equal Temerament? I only have a Peterson VS-II virtual strobe tuner - and I'm not even sure it is capable of Stretch tuning.

I'd love hear what other members think!

Thanks, Felix

[Zaki]

The other day while I was reading a bit in the manual for emagics EVP88, I noticed a chapter about stretched tuning. They say that stretched tuning is a technique used on acoustic pianos (mostly upright pianos). The reason why some Rhodes pianos have been tuned in stretched tuning should be to accomodate demands by pianists who use Rhodes and acoustic piano at the same time.
As far as I can understand, no other instruments use a tuning similair to "stretched tuning" therefore I see no reason to tune your Rhodes that way unless you use it alongside an acoustic piano.

[Arkain]

I have had my Rhodes stretch tuned for years, and definitely prefer the sound to that of equal tempered tuning.

As for interacting with other instruments, I have never had a tuning problem...instruments like the pedal steel are stretch tuned...and I've never seen a brass instrument that was in perfect tune for every note...the slight tuning changes add a shimmer to the sounds, and helps the instruments isolate from one another.

Equal tempered keys sound dead to me, I even edit my synths for stretch tuning to give them a more realistic feel.