Removing top that was glued with elmers wood glue

[Walt]

I built a mandolin about a year ago, but I used Elmers wood glue instead of hide glue. Will I be able to remove the top and neck. I'm wanting to put on a new top because the old one was to thin, and it has sunk in a lot. What is the best way to take this apart. I'm not trying to salvage the top, so it doesn't matter if it gets damaged in the process.
Thanks

[sunburst]

Your in luck. If you don't have to salvage the top do whatever it takes to save the rest of the mandolin. Actually, it wont be much different from taking a top off that was glued with hide glue.
As for the neck, no problem. If you can get steam to that joint it'll come right out.

If you have a thin putty knife or spatula, you should be able to get the top off with that. The hardest part is getting it started, but if you can work the blade between the top and the side, just work your way around.

[Dave Cohen]

Glues like Titebond and other yellow glues are aliphatic resin ("AR") glues. AR glues all have very low glass transition temperatures compared to, e.g., hide glue. In plainspeak, that means that they soften at much lower temperatures, with the result that you can use heat alone to separate an AR glue joint. With hide glue, you need moisture as well as heat. So I would suggest getting an artist's spatula and "sharpening" it a bit to use as a probe after heating the joint with a houshold iron or a heat gun or heat lamp.

Since you are not concerned with saving the top plate, it might be easiest for you to first saw most of the plate away , e.g., with a coping saw. Then apply the iron to what is left, and carefully remove it as the glue softens.