Smackboy, I fall into John's camp. I wax, but don't go crazy with it. I believe in it, and feel it is important to a ski's performance, just like well tuned edges.
My rule of thumb is about every 3 to 5 days, or maybe 2 days if the snow is bad. I look for whitish haze on the bases as my indicator that it needs a dose. FYI, some skis seem to have bases that hold wax better than others. Most of our Fischers and Dynastars are like that, except my P-9s. All our Heads seem to be worse, and show haze sooner.
You were asking about prep for new skis -- I use the saturation method recommended by Swix, which is found in their Waxing Guide as a downloadable PDF on their website. Basically it works like this:
1) iron in a warm temp, soft wax using 3 complete passes with the iron to really warm up the bases (soft, warm temp wax is used for better penetration); do not scrape;
2) repeat 3 times without scraping;
3) after the final application, scrape while the wax is hot, taking care not to press too hard into the base with the scraper;
4) let cool, and brush out the finish;
5) apply final coat of wax appropriate to the temps you will be skiing in.
Note: this is only for new skis. After that, they get the usual treatment of a single coat when needed for maintenance.
Hope this helps....
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