The computation of vibrational spectra of diatomic molecules through the exact diagonalization of algebraically determined matrices based on powers of Morse coordinates is made substantially more efficient by choosing a properly adapted quantum mechanical basis, specifically tuned to the molecular potential. A substantial improvement is achieved while still retaining the full advantage of the simplicity and numerical light-weightedness of an algebraic approach. In the scheme we propose, the basis is parametrized by two quantities which can be adjusted to best suit the molecular potential through a simple minimization procedure.