Germanium transistor testing

[pokus]

Hey there,
I want to build a fuzz face clone and got myself some germanium transistor. Now it's time to test them concerning the leakage and gain. I also put up a test circuit which I had found online.
It works fine, but the results vary a lot. When I test a transistor it shows something around 800mV(leakage of 320uA) but it's constantly decreasing with time to sometimes 300mV(leakage of 120uA). I know that germ transistors are temperature dependent, but what is now the "real" leakage, because it says 100uA is common and 300uA is almost bad.
Or isn't it that important because the total gain is in- or decreasing with the leakage and therefore it keeps the same?
Is it the best way to keep the transistor in the circuit for a while and then measure it?
Thanks for any kind of help 

PS: What does leakage to the sound, or is it just lowering the gain? So many questions 

[zombiwoof]

When you test germanium transistors, avoid handling them with your fingers as much as possible and let them sit and stabilize before you take your readings.  You will see the readings change before your eyes as they adjust to the temperature, when the reading stops changing that is your reading.  They are very susceptible to even the heat given off by your fingers.  You have to be patient when testing them to get accurate readings.
Al

Hey there,
I want to build a fuzz face clone and got myself some germanium transistor. Now it's time to test them concerning the leakage and gain. I also put up a test circuit which I had found online.
It works fine, but the results vary a lot. When I test a transistor it shows something around 800mV(leakage of 320uA) but it's constantly decreasing with time to sometimes 300mV(leakage of 120uA). I know that germ transistors are temperature dependent, but what is now the "real" leakage, because it says 100uA is common and 300uA is almost bad.
Or isn't it that important because the total gain is in- or decreasing with the leakage and therefore it keeps the same?
Is it the best way to keep the transistor in the circuit for a while and then measure it?
Thanks for any kind of help 

PS: What does leakage to the sound, or is it just lowering the gain? So many questions 

[pokus]

Alright, thanks. Not touching their heads really helped, although some of them only had stopped after 10 minutes.
The weird things is, after measuring 10 transistor, the ones with high leakage almost always had higher gain, even if I subtracted the leakage from total gain.

[pinkjimiphoton]

even BREATHING near them will mess up your reading. hell, humidity affects them, too. they're a pain in the tookus, but man, what a sound.

i found plugging them in for testing to handle them carefully with tweezers or needlenose pliers can help "heat sink" away our body heat so ya don't have to wait as long. but even then, it can take some minutes to settle.

yeah, the highest gain ones usually leak the most. some end up so leaky you can flip 'em 180 degrees and it makes virtually no tonal difference. until the weather changes, anyways

[zombiwoof]

Alright, thanks. Not touching their heads really helped, although some of them only had stopped after 10 minutes.
The weird things is, after measuring 10 transistor, the ones with high leakage almost always had higher gain, even if I subtracted the leakage from total gain.

When I was testing germanium transistors, I would insert them in the tester socket, then walk away and do something else for 10 minutes or so and come back to check if they were stabilized yet before taking my readings.  It was a long and tedious endeavor to say the least.
Al