Lucky it's not Rosewood as that literally drinks it into the open grain and still looks dry a few days later.

Know what you mean about the excess elbow grease required. Suggest going to Supercheap Auto for some of the micro fibre polish cloths for cars as that is what I mainly used for hand buffing the body and back of the neck plus a smaller one did the trick on the fretboard after having a round or two with bits of an old T shirt to take off most of the solidified wax.