Update for the day/night.
Pulled everything, control board, backplanes, the works. Re-addressed every wire ensuring proper solder flow to both sides of the boards, trimmed up any wires. Put it all back together. Appreciate all the pointers. Ordered the new solder station too, lol.
Put it all back together with all the previous wiring & routing tips.
Passed dim bulb with bottom row of transistors installed, floated ground (no control board). Discharged filter caps.
Passed dim bulb next with star ground connected. Discharged filter caps.
Added control board. Failed dim bulb the exact same way. Watching DC mV climb across left-hand F2 as bulb got brighter. Powered back down for the night.
I could try swapping in my other (working!) control board from my other WOPL'ed 700b tomorrow. Also note that I have a transistor tester, can pull and test anything on the current/non-working board as well.
Thanks guys... have a good evening!