I redid my windings as you suggested and they came out better.? Not perfect but better.
After soldering in place, when I checked the connections with a DC meter on ohms everything seemed to be very low resistance and very close to the same readings.? I've looked at the circuit diagram and can see that it is basically a few short lengths of wire more or less connected to one another and ground so I want to convince myself everything is OK.? But ....