Remove three dots (...) from masonry

Ok, let's see if I can finish this one.

Now I'm inclined to use the Excerpt metabox.
I have deactivated the PHP to hide the 3 dots, and Customizer / Blog is set to show Excerpt.

If I leave the Excerpt metabox empty, the 3 dots and Read more label are there, but when I copy/paste or write the excerpt in the metabox, the 3 dots and Read more label disappear

I suppose that's the way WP is intended to work?

Can I add some kind of Read more label to the excerpt metabox?
I have read something with PHP but haven't been skilled to fulfill it

Thanks Tom

Hmm there may be a function you can use to do that - but why not just keep the setting in the Customizer to show the excerpt, and use the function to remove the dots? What exactly about the Excerpt metabox is appealing?

Either way, I'm sure there's a solution we can come up with :)