@Irv  I sent them the photo I used in my post above.

If I am reading what you are saying, the felt between the fine tuner and ball, I would think that would cause instability of the string. It would be compressing and decompressing as you play. 

I have never had that issue these are supposed to take care of, but I am not a professional. I am not doing those strong abrupt bowing techniques my instructor demonstrated last lesson. I thought that might cause it when I received my email response. We were talking about something and he did it. Pretty cool. He did not have ringing and did not have these on his strings. Probably depends on a number of factors.

I also don’t think the string would be securely settled in the fine tuner if it was between the tuner and ball end. They are a rather dense felt, but will compress and decompress.

At any rate, I now know their purpose. I have two or three other sets of these strings and will have more of these little felt pads. 

@Irv @BillyG 

Fine tuner from my 1983 Andrew Schroetter German made cello. Last year they were made in Germany. It is the old heavy duty wood fine tuner. I can see why the felt pads would be used, and also how they would be installed. I can see that they would eliminate metal to metal noise. 

The other photo is from my brand new cello and has the newer fine tuner like the one the one in the photo abkve that has the felt pads on the wrap. I can see why they would not and could not be used on these newer fine tuners.

When I was checking them out, I was thinking they were a dense foam, but Pirastro referred to them as felt. They are a dense smooth felt. The felt I have for my sewing and craft projects is made from recycled plastic, rather than wool felt. It does not feel like the felt discs on the strings. I, also, do have some wool felt, but it does not feel as smooth or dense as the discs on the cello string. So, the discs being made of felt never crossed my mind. I thought they were a foam until Pirastro said they are felt. When rechecking after Pirastro referrd to them as “felt”, they are, indeed, felt.

It was pretty neat discovering this. I might try them on Ada, the Andrew Schroetter with the old style original ebony tailpiece with fine tuners, pictured above. It has new Pirastro Aricore strings right now, so won’t need changing for a while.

What puzzles me is why Pirastro does not put those on their models of cello strings. They are not on the Aricore strings or the Perpetuals. Oh, well. Puzzle finally soved. 

Thank you, Irv and BillyG.

It would be neat if they mentioned what they were for somewhere in the packaging.😁 Sure would have saved me a lot of searching. 

Well, that is one reason to take up cello! I have seen many videos of lady violinist and violist playing wearing one earring. When they removed the instrument from the shoulder, you can notice it.

I seem to recall reading somewhere, or listening to an interview somewhere, where a lady violinist said she wears only one earring because of the violin. She said she just stopped wearing the one in the left ear because she always had to remember to remove it. It was uncomfortable with the violin up to the side of the face. She also said she heard of a lady catching the left ear hoop earring when bowing, not a happy ending. Not sure how that would happen? Maybe it got hooked onto a chinrest corner?  Maybe it was a huge hoop earring that could double as a hoola hoop if she needed to exercise? Wish I could remember the details. That was a few years back before I took up violin. I did remember that part, though, when I started violin and was happy I am not into jewelry. I can’t figure it out. I thought my bowing was weird, but I don’t get anywhere near my ear.