Here is how to setup a custom length excerpt without cutting off the last word.
First, Add the following snippet to your functions.php file:
function get_excerpt($count){
$permalink = get_permalink($post->ID);
$excerpt = get_the_content();
$excerpt = strip_tags($excerpt);
$excerpt = substr($excerpt, 0, $count);
$excerpt = substr($excerpt, 0, strripos($excerpt, " "));
$excerpt = $excerpt.'... more';
return $excerpt;
}
Next, add the following code where you want the excerpt to show up:
Change your excerpt length from 125 to whatever length you want it to be.