[David Van Wickler]

Yes it does matter where the resistor is in the circuit.  As I mentioned earlier.. In many cases you can just put the ohm meter leads across the resistor and check it but if there are other paths for DC current then you must unsolder one side of the resistor and then check it.

Re: the twisted wire mess shown in your photo....if you restuff the original capacitor can, the leads from the replacement cap will come out.  That should help clean things up.  

got it - looking at the tube sockets for instance it looks like the original work was  done by twisting the resistor wires and caps around the tabs and soldering them at once. To replace these resistors and caps would i de-solder and remove all that original solder and wire? I think I may have answered my own question...