Well temperaments, just diminished

Okay, I'm starting to get the gist of what well temperaments are all about,
but I don't really see how they are constructed. Could someone post a list
of pitches in cents that represents a fairly popular historical well
temperament?

On another subject, some of the music I play contains "diminished 7th"
chords (stacked minor thirds). Is this chord a modern invention? It seems
to me that such a thing is impossible in anything but equal temperament.
I'm having a hard time getting acceptable diminished chords out of my E9
pedal steel using the standard JI tuned pedals. I know I could tune a pedal
specifically for these chords, but that's really an awkward solution.
Comments?

-b0b-

http://wco.com/~quasar/