Length of Excerpt

Is there any way to control how big the excerpt is, when I choose that option - maybe by using an extra parameter in the request to specify the number of characters?

The default length of the excerpt is too short for my needs, and the full content is too long, so it would be useful to be able to select the length I want.

I don’t mind editing the PHP code if that’s what’s required.

I’m using version 3.4.