How Do I Eliminate Brackets In MERGED Column

I recently MERGED two columns in a database file using the following code:

SELECT "(" & RESULT & ") " & QUALIFIER AS MERGED FROM SOIL_STL3_MERGE AS SOIL_STL3_MERGE;

The RESULT field was a number which I had to change to a TEXT field since my QUALIFIER was a TEXT field. Anyway the result was the field called MERGED which depicted the data as follows:

(100) U
(500) U
......
.......
I use the Find and Replace twice to get rid of the first ( and run it again to get rid of ) resulting in a field that looks like this:

100 U
500 U

My question is can I solve this through an UPDATE query statement through SQL or some other way with a function.

I would rather automate the removal of the ( ) or change my original code to NOT put brackets around my result.

Any and all help is most appreciated.

I thk you all in advance.

the raven man