As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 30, 1997.
                                                      Registration No. 333-_____
================================================================================

                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                  GENRAD, INC.
               (Exact name of issuer as specified in its charter)

      Massachusetts                                          04-1360950
- -------------------------------                           ----------------
(State or other jurisdiction                             (I.R.S. employer
   of identification no.)                         incorporation or organization)


                   7 Technology Park Drive, Westford, MA 01886
                   --------------------------------------------
                    (Address of principal executive offices)
                         -------------------------------

                  1997 NON-QUALIFIED EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTION PLAN
                              (Full title of plan)


                                                    Copy to:
       James F. Lyons                         James E. Dawson, Esq.
        GenRad, Inc.                      Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP
  7 Technology Park Drive                    One International Place
     Westford, MA 01886                 Boston, Massachusetts 02110-2699
       (978) 589-7000                            (617) 439-2000
(Name, address and telephone
number of agent for service)

                           --------------------------


                                      CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE


=====================================================================================================================
Title of each class of                                 Proposed maximum      Proposed maximum
  securities to be        Amount being registered       offering price      aggregate offering         Amount of
    registered                      (1)                    per share             price              registration fee
                                                                                           
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Stock,                 500,000 Shares              $28.4063 (2)          $14,203,125.00         $4,189.92
$1.00 par value per share
=====================================================================================================================


(1) This Registration Statement covers 500,000 shares of Common Stock
    underlying awards that may be granted pursuant to the 1997
    Non-Qualified Employee Stock Option Plan. In addition, pursuant to Rule
    416(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities
    Act"), this Registration Statement also covers an indeterminate number
    of additional shares of Common Stock which may be issued under said
    Plan as a result of a stock dividend, stock split or other
    recapitalization.

(2) Calculated as the average of the high and low prices per share of the Common
    Stock as reported on the New York Stock Exchange on December 29, 1997.

================================================================================


                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT


Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.
        ---------------------------------------

        GenRad, Inc. (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in this
Registration Statement the following documents and information heretofore filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission"):

        (a) The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 28, 1996;

        (b) The Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly
periods ended March 29, and June 28 and September 27, 1997, and its definitive
proxy materials relating to its Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on May 8,
1997; and

        (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-9675).

        All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(the "Exchange Act"), prior to the filing of any post-effective amendment which
indicates that all securities offered hereunder have been sold or which
deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be
incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof
from the date of filing such documents. Any statement contained in a document
incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to
be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the
extent that any other subsequently-filed document which also is incorporated or
deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such
statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed,
except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration
Statement.

Item 4. Description of Securities.
        -------------------------

        Not applicable.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.
        --------------------------------------

        Not applicable.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
        -----------------------------------------

        The Company's Articles of Organization and By-laws, each as amended and
restated, provide for indemnification of officers and directors to the fullest
extent permitted by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.


                                        -2-





        Section 67 of Chapter 156B of the Massachusetts General Laws, which is
applicable to the Company as a Massachusetts corporation, provides as follows:

        "Indemnification of directors, officers, employees and other agents of a
corporation, and persons who serve at its request as directors, officers,
employees or other agents of another organization, or who serve at its request
in any capacity with respect to any employee benefit plan, may be provided by it
to whatever extent shall be specified in or authorized by (i) the articles of
organization or (ii) a by-law adopted by the stockholders or (iii) a vote
adopted by the holders of a majority of the shares of stock entitled to vote on
the election of directors. Except as the articles of organization or by-laws
otherwise require, indemnification of any persons referred to in the preceding
sentence who are not directors of the corporation may be provided by it to the
extent authorized by the directors. Such indemnification may include payment by
the corporation of expenses incurred in defending a civil or criminal action or
proceeding in advance of the final disposition of such action or proceeding,
upon receipt of an undertaking by the person indemnified to repay such payment
if he shall be adjudicated to be not entitled to indemnification under this
section which undertaking may be accepted without reference to the financial
ability of such person to make repayment. Any such indemnification may be
provided although the person to be indemnified is no longer an officer,
director, employee or agent of the corporation or of such other organization or
no longer serves with respect to any such employee benefit plan.

        "No indemnification shall be provided for any person with respect to any
matter as to which he shall have been adjudicated in any proceeding not to have
acted in good faith in the reasonable belief that his action was in the best
interest of the corporation or to the extent that such matter relates to service
with respect to an employee benefit plan, in the best interests of the
participants or beneficiaries of such employee benefit plan.

        "The absence of any express provision for indemnification shall not
limit any right of indemnification existing independently of this section.

        "A corporation shall have power to purchase and maintain insurance on
behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or other agent
of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a
director, officer, employee or other agent of another organization or with
respect to any employee benefit plan, against any liability incurred by him in
any such capacity, or arising out of his status as such, whether or not the
corporation would have the power to indemnify him against such liability."

        The Company provides officers' and directors' liability insurance for
its officers and directors and has entered into indemnification agreements with
each of its directors and executive officers providing contractual
indemnification by the Company to the fullest extent permissible under the laws
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Item 7. Exemption from Registration.
        ---------------------------

        Not applicable.

Item 8. Exhibits.
        --------

        See the exhibit index immediately preceding the exhibits attached
hereto.


                                      -3-



Item 9. Undertakings.
        ------------

        (a) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

            (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement to include any
material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously
disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such
information in the registration statement.

            (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be
a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

            (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

            (4) That, for purposes of determining any liability under the
Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the registrant's annual report pursuant
to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable,
each filing of an employee benefit plan's annual report pursuant to Section
15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the registration
statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the
securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time
shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

        (b) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the registrant pursuant to the provisions of the Delaware General
Corporation Law and the registrant's Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws,
or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that, in the opinion of the
Securities and Exchange Commission, such indemnification is against public
policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event
that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the
payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or
a controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action,
suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person
in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless
in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling
precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether
such indemnification by it is against public policy, as expressed in the Act,
and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

                                      -4-



                                   SIGNATURES
                                   ----------

        Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the
registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in Westford, Massachusetts, on the 30th day of December 1997.

                                   GENRAD, INC.


                                   By: /s/ James F. Lyons
                                       ---------------------------------
                                       James F. Lyons
                                       President and Chief Executive Officer

        Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
this registration statement has been signed below by the following persons on
behalf of the registrant in the capacities and on the dates indicated.




     Signatures                          Title                         Date
     ----------                          -----                         ----
                                                            
/s/ James F. Lyons        President, Chief Executive Officer     December 30, 1997
- ----------------------    and Director
    James F. Lyons         


/s/ Paul Pronsky, Jr.                                            December 30, 1997
- ----------------------
    Paul Pronsky, Jr.     Chief Financial Officer and            December 30, 1997
                          Principal Accounting Officer


/s/ William S. Antle              Director                       December 30, 1997
- -----------------------
William S. Antle


/s/ Russell A. Gullotti           Director                       December 30, 1997
- -----------------------
Russell A. Gullotti


/s/ Lowell B. Hawkinson           Director                       December 30, 1997
- -----------------------
Lowell B. Hawkinson


/s/ Richard G. Rogers             Director                       December 30, 1997
- -----------------------
Richard G. Rogers

                                      -5-




     Signatures                          Title                         Date
     ----------                          -----                         ----

/s/ William G. Scheerer           Director                       December 30, 1997
- -----------------------
William G. Scheerer


/s/ Adriana Stadecker             Director                       December 30, 1997
- ----------------------
Adriana Stadecker                 Director                       December 30, 1997


/s/ Ed Zschau                     Director                       December 30, 1997
- --------------------
Ed Zschau




                                      -6-



                                  EXHIBIT INDEX


Exhibit No.      Title                                               Page
- ----------       -----                                               ----

    4.1        1997 Non-Qualified Employee Stock Option Plan          8


     5         Opinion of Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP              14


   23.1        Consent of Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP           Contained in
                                                                     Exhibit 5

   23.2        Consent of Price Waterhouse LLP                         16


                                      -7-