Goodbye My Stereo

Back in high-school I inherited the family stereo receiver when it quit working provided I could fix it. Of course it took me no time at all to rip it open and find out not only what was wrong with it, but also what made it tick. Unfortunately in my overzealous enthusiasm I went overboard soldering, clipping wires, etc. Pretty soon I was up to my ears in components. I eventually did find the problem. It was actually quite simple the contacts on the power switch needed to be cleaned. If I had known what I was doing that is probably where I would have started. However because of my exuberance I accidentally and unknowingly dropped some solder onto a circuit board while putting everything back together. I went all out on that thing even adding colored lights to the dials instead of the boring white ones that they came with. And quite amazingly it worked! Unfortunately that little piece of solder eventually shorted a connection and the above picture gives an accurate representation of what happened. Ever since it has been sitting on my desk waiting for the a replacement part. That part came today. So I installed the part and turned it on. Yet instead of melodious tunes all that came out was a thick pungent smoke. Hence I realized that I had reached the end of my electronic repair ability, or perhaps just the end of my patience, and was forced to throw it out. Sad, sort of like loosing a friend. After all the work and time spend, I can't do any more. I guess the lesson is to think through things first and move slowly and deliberately with care the first time. "Good things take time"