OMG... until you mentioned it, I completely forgot about Trapper Nelson frames... I am not sure if I should thanks you because now I will be even more grateful for my current pack, or curse you for reminding me of some very painful trips.
As to sawing the toothbrush in half.. never gotten to the point that I worry about saving a fractional of an ounce. Like you, my toothbrush is unmodified.
That said, I can't tell you how much of a difference it made for my weight for a week long trip to drop from 70-90lbs down to 30lbs. When I was young and foolish I would brag about the heavy packs I carried. Of course, I would be wiped out after 10 miles. Later in life I found that my joints really hurt carrying even 40lbs and decided something had to change if I was going to continue to backpack. Several years ago I attempted to capture how my gear had changed in an
old-vs-new spreadsheet . These days, weekend trips are more like 12lbs, and week long trips are 25lbs... and I can put in 15-20 miles without any joint pain. Life is good.
The modern version of the primate-ways pack is the moonbow gearskin, dana racer-x, or the bpl arctic backpack.
--Mark