Excel 2007 :: VBA SQL Query Length?

I've inherited an SQL server database which imports data from a multitude of spreadsheets each night. Unfortunately the previous data is not deleted from the database or spreadsheets, so there are duplicated records throughout the database. The method they have been using to get data out is to "select distinct", which gets around the problem (not my preferred solution).

I now need to produce an invoice from the database, so I select distinct records for the previous month (based on date) from, say, the TRUCKING table into a TEMP table, so I can do my calculations from there.

But there are a couple of columns which prevent me from getting only unique records. They are the unique ID column and the TIMESTAMP column they have added.

If I try to select all the individual columns, except for the ID and TIMESTAMP, the string length goes over 256 chars and the query truncates.

So I tried "SELECT DISTINCT * FROM TRUCKING WHERE etc etc" but I get the ID and TIMESTAMP fields, which defeats the purpose, and I get duplicate records.

Is there a way to say, for instance, SELECT ALL EXCEPT the fields I don't want?