I caught part of a singer/songwriter's act the other night and was fascinated by his use of the guitar as a percussive instrument.

He did one song where he tuned the guitar to an open tuning and strummed the strings in between playing the upper and lower bouts of the guitar like a bodhran, meanwhile "pulling off" notes with his left hand on the strings -- and singing. It was nearly amazing.

My question is - are certain kinds of guitars better for this in terms of strength, cross bracing, resonance etc.? He was using a classical cutaway with a pick-up. And what all techniques can be used in doing this?

Also, how can other instruments be used as a drum ? ( I occasionally pull out a snare drum brush and use it on the head of my 5-string banjo when the rest of the band get into a bluesy/jazzy mode, or start playing "demented" chords I can't find!)