Practical limit to length of SQL query (specifically MySQL)

SELECT * FROM 4e_magic_items INNER JOIN 4e_magic_item_levels ON 4e_magic_items.id = 4e_magic_item_levels.itemid INNER JOIN 4e_monster_sources ON 4e_magic_items.source = 4e_monster_sources.id WHERE (itemlevel BETWEEN 1 AND 30)  AND source!=16 AND source!=2 AND source!=5 AND source!=13 AND source!=15 AND source!=3 AND source!=4 AND source!=12 AND source!=7 AND source!=14 AND source!=11 AND source!=10 AND source!=8 AND source!=1 AND source!=6 AND source!=9  AND type!='Arms' AND type!='Feet' AND type!='Hands' AND type!='Head' AND type!='Neck' AND type!='Orb' AND type!='Potion' AND type!='Ring' AND type!='Rod' AND type!='Staff' AND type!='Symbol' AND type!='Waist' AND type!='Wand' AND type!='Wondrous Item' AND type!='Alchemical Item' AND type!='Elixir' AND type!='Reagent' AND type!='Whetstone' AND type!='Other Consumable' AND type!='Companion' AND type!='Mount' AND (type!='Armor' OR (false )) AND (type!='Weapon' OR (false )) ORDER BY type ASC, itemlevel ASC, name ASC

select *
from
  4e_magic_items mi
 ,4e_magic_item_levels mil
 ,4e_monster_sources ms
where mi.id = mil.itemid
  and mi.source = ms.id
  and itemlevel between 1 and 30
  and source not in(16,2,5,13,15,3,4,12,7,14,11,10,8,1,6,9)
  and type not in(
                  'Arms' ,'Feet' ,'Hands' ,'Head' ,'Neck' ,'Orb' ,
                  'Potion' ,'Ring' ,'Rod' ,'Staff' ,'Symbol' ,'Waist' ,
                  'Wand' ,'Wondrous Item' ,'Alchemical Item' ,'Elixir' ,
                  'Reagent' ,'Whetstone' ,'Other Consumable' ,'Companion' ,
                  'Mount'
                 )
  and ((type != 'Armor') or (false))
  and ((type != 'Weapon') or (false))
order by
  type asc
 ,itemlevel asc
 ,name asc

/*
Some thoughts:
==============
0 - Formatting really matters, in SQL even more than most languages.
1 - consider selecting only the columns you need, not "*"
2 - use of table aliases makes it short & clear ("MI", "MIL" in my example)
3 - joins in the WHERE clause will un-clutter your FROM clause
4 - use NOT IN for long lists
5 - logically, the last two lines can be added to the "type not in" section.
    I'm not sure why you have the "or false", but I'll assume some good reason
    and leave them here.
*/

SELECT x, y, z
FROM a, b
WHERE fiz = 1
AND foo = 2
AND a.x = b.y
AND b.z IN (SELECT q, r, s, t
            FROM c, d, e
            WHERE c.q = d.r
              AND d.s = e.t
              AND c.gar IS NOT NULL)
ORDER BY b.gonk