> The guitars were nearly impossible to play

I can attest to that, as I had a few in my hands - brought in as a curiosity by a friend or largely gathering dust in some school.

That being said those made in Czechoslovakia were the least bad out of all eastern block instruments.

The same infrastructure and most likely also people went on to make instruments for other manufacturers - notably Epiphone.

These models are sought after by collectors, if only because so few were made. Some say they were better made, but I only held one in my life for a brief moment and at the time wasn't aware of its rarity.

It's hard to compare as broadly speaking guitars have become much better in every aspect over the years.