Re: Compression test.. Bad news!
Personally I would probably have tried decarbing the motor and verify valve adjustment before pulling the head.Doesn't take much of a piece of carbon to hold a valve open and cause lower comp.
If you did a wet comp. check and the #'s didn't come up(from dry test) then it's not rings.Rings could still be worn,but there is definitely another issue with the head and or gasket.