New to me GS - Electrical Help Needed?

[mwe]

I picked up a 1990 gs500e this weekend that was in a sorry state...but it was free and it did come with a title so I cant complain.

Anyways, perhaps one of the POs down the line was tweeker because, all of the connections had been disconnected and almost every bolt finger tight.  (bike lived a hard life by the ocean I think).  I went through hardware and torqued things back to spec. I pulled the carbs and let them soak in pinesol (trick I picked up a few years back on the cb1100f.net forum) and ordered k&L rebuild kit to be installed later this week.  With the carbs soaking I went back to addressing the electronics.  Now I want to say I am OK with the mechanical components but i really struggle when it comes to chasing electrical gremlins.

I tried best i could to clean ALL of the contacts with emery paper and contact cleaner then made all of the connections per the wiring diagram.  I hooked up my battery (12.8 volts) and flipped the key to on.  The oil indicator and neutral came on but nothing else.  I jumped the turn signals and they lit up so I knew I was missing something.  I pulled an old turn signal relay out of my parts drawer and replaced the old relay (super gross and rusted but far more substantial than the flimsy flasher relay I replaced it with )...turned key and i had lights across the board. 

Ok..then I hit the starter button to see if she will turn over under her own power (I had pulled the plugs earlier and rotated the engine by hand to confirm no internal damage)...when I hit the starter button I got nothing...no click..nothing.  I took my screw driver and bridged the poles on the starter solenoid and the starter turned and the engine made decent compression (finger test).  Fuse was good (under red cap not spare ) Then i pulled out the wiring diagram again to see what i was missing.  That is when I realized how many safety switches are in the starter circuit. That is almost as crazy as the "what creates the electrical arc" question on this site.  So then I flip up the side stand (close that circuit) and grabbed the clutch....hit the button and I got a click from back by the solenoid....did it again...click...did it again...nothing and I lost the lights aside from neutral and oil indicator lights. 

Sorry for the long post.  I have searched the forum and realize this is somewhat common but I cant seem to find an answer and i fear it is really simple. I hope someone can help me get this beast back up and running.  Thanks in advance-- Matt

[Big Rich]

What exactly is the question?

If you want to hear the engine turn over, jump a car battery to the starter motor (negative on the engine, positive to the wire going to the relay).

How old is the battery you're using?

[mwe]

the question is what am I doing wrong? 
I guess i would like to:
1: determine why i have no headlight/tail light/turn signals? and then obviously fix that problem
2: once I get the power back to system, I want to make the starter circuit work properly so that when I hit the start button it engages the starter. To do this i think I need to know why when i hit the starter button before I just got the click noise and no starter.

Battery is known good...Reads 12.8...holds charge and had been in my cb750 all season which i know has a functioning charging system.

[EdChen]

I don't think there's an easy answer to your question. Assuming all the fuses and bulbs are working (worth double checking electrically, not just visually), you're really kind of stuck putting in the time and effort to trace through the wiring harness with a multimeter/test light looking for a poor connection or even a broken wire.